Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2008

Abstract

We analyze the career profiles of Italian legislators in the post-war period. Using a unique, newly collected dataset that contains detailed information on all the politicians who have been elected to the Italian Parliament between 1948 and 2008, we address a number of important issues that pertain to their career paths prior to election to Parliament, their parliamentary careers, and their post-Parliament employment. Our data span two institutional regimes: Italy's First Republic (1948-1994) and the Second Republic (1994-present), characterized by different electoral rules and party structures. We first present a brief overview of the Italian political system. We then provide a comprehensive view of the career profiles of Italian legislators over the entire sample period, and highlight the major differences between the First and the Second Republic. We also compare the profiles of Italian legislators to those of the members of the United States Congress. We then use our data to address a number of questions that pertain to the selection of Italian politicians, their labor market, and their overall quality. We also draw some general conclusions that contribute to the debate about the relative efficacy and desirability of alternative policies regarding the selection and the compensation of elected representatives.

Keywords

politicians, parties, political careers

Discipline

Labor Economics | Political Economy

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

107

Publisher

SMU Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series, No. 15-2008

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

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