"The Transparency Of Politics And The Quality Of Politicians".pdf

Politics has always attracted media and public attention, with a recent "spectacularization" of politics leading to a dramatic increase in available information about political life. However, the transparency of politics varies across countries, with some having public records of individual votes and disclosure laws for political contributions, while others do not. This article analyzes the relationship between transparency and the quality of politicians, focusing on party recruitment. The authors model a political party's recruitment decisions, considering the heterogeneity of potential recruits' political skills and their value in both the political and market sectors. They find that increased transparency reduces the average quality of recruited politicians, as it increases their market wages, making it more difficult for parties to recruit high-skilled individuals. In contrast, less transparency allows parties to recruit better politicians, as their market wages are lower, and parties can convey information about recruits' skills to the market sector.