Journalism is widely believed to be crucial for holding elected officials accountable. At the same time economic theory …

political agency setting. In the baseline two-period case where only the politician's actions are observable before the election … probability before the election (Maskin and Tirole's "feedback" case). In the three-period case, with two elections, the dynamic … evolution of confirmation bias can lead to more pandering before the first election. Finally, we show that when confirmation …

. Elections are needed as a carrot and a stick to motivate politicians, yet politicians who are overly interested in re-election …

(1975 - 2009). We find an increase in the growth rate of M1 during election months of about one tenth of a standard … is related to systemic vote buying which requires significant amounts of cash at election times. The finely timed …

increase in the growth rate of M1 during election months of about one tenth of a standard deviation. A similar effect can … neither be detected in established OECD democracies nor in the months leading up to the election. The effect is larger in … election month monetary expansion is demand driven and can be best explained by systemic vote buying. Systemic vote buying …