Download This PaperThe Impact of Political Leaders' Profession and Education on Reforms
KOF Working Paper No. 147
38 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2006
Date Written: September 2006
Abstract
This paper analyzes whether the educational and professional background of a head of government matters for the implementation of market-liberalizing reforms. Employing panel data over the period 1970-2002, we present empirical evidence based on a novel data set covering profession and education of more than 500 political leaders from 73 countries. Our results show that entrepreneurs, professional scientists, and trained economists are significantly more reform oriented. Contrary, union executives tend to impede reforms. We also highlight interactions between profession and education with time in office and the political leaning of the ruling party.
Keywords: Reforms, Economic Policy, Economic Freedom, Interest Groups, Lobbying
JEL Classification: D72, E61, H11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Exposing Corrupt Politicians: The Effects of Brazil's Publicly Released Audits on Electoral Outcomes
By Claudio Ferraz and Frederico Finan
-
Democratization, Decentralization and the Distribution of Local Public Goods in a Poor Rural Economy
-
Political Selection and the Quality of Government: Evidence from South India
By Timothy J. Besley, Rohini Pande, ...
-
Political Selection and the Quality of Government: Evidence from South India
By Timothy J. Besley, Rohini Pande, ...
-
Political Selection and the Quality of Government: Evidence from South India
By Timothy J. Besley, Rohini Pande, ...
-
Political Selection and the Quality of Government: Evidence from South India
By Timothy J. Besley, Rohini Pande, ...
-
By Scott Gehlbach, Konstantin Sonin, ...
-
Businessman Candidates: Special-Interest Politics in Weakly Institutionalized Environments
By Scott Gehlbach and Konstantin Sonin