This paper measures the relative importance of party platforms versus expected policy outcomes in the voting decisions of individuals in a proportional representation (PR) system. It uses survey pre-electoral data from the 2006 Israeli elections. This survey is critical as it provides a set of...

The challenge of public administration reform is well-known: politicians often have little interest in the efficient implementation of government policy. Using new data from 439 World Bank public sector reform loans in 109 countries, we demonstrate that such reforms are significantly less likely...

This paper explores empirically the role of nomination procedures on political selection and the determinants for adopting contestable selection methods such as primaries. Using data from Latin American parties, I find evidence that political competition increases probability of primary...

The present paper provides a short review of leading Israeli parties' positions on key issues. The list of issues was compiled based on the authors' choice and understanding of the political and social conditions prevalent in the country today. The list includes items such as judicial (legal...

We study the rent-seeking behaviour of political parties in a proportional representation system, where the final policy choice of the parliament is a weighted average of parties' policy positions, weights being their vote shares. We nd that parties' policy preferences and their rent levels are...

We analyze how political discretion affects the selection of government workers, using individual-level data on political party membership and matched employer-employee data on the universe of formal workers in Brazil. Exploiting close mayoral races, we find that winning an election leads to an...

Autocrats face a dilemma. Continue with fraudulent electoral practices and risk revolt, or reduce fraud and risk losing elections. One solution is to structure electoral governance such that it allows for independence and professionalism at the center, lending credibility to the electoral...

This paper examines how party dominance affects elected politicians’ quality, measured by their career path. Politicians’ career is divided between political and technical or administrative posts. To examine the relationship between party dominance and career path, I use data from the...

In this paper, I provide an empirical and theoretical analysis on whether and how in-utero negative health shocks affect politicians' human capital and career and governance outcomes, using Chinese Great Famine (1959-1961) and Chinese city Party Secretaries as a case in point. Using a...