Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-d8cs5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-23T00:02:41.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Does Paying Politicians More Promote Economic Diversity in Legislatures?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2016

NICHOLAS CARNES  and
ERIC R. HANSEN
NICHOLAS CARNES*
Affiliation:
Duke University
ERIC R. HANSEN*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
*
Nicholas Carnes is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University (nicholas.carnes@duke.edu).
Eric R. Hansen is Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (ehansen@live.unc.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

If politicians in the United States were paid better, would more middle- and working-class people become politicians? Reformers often argue that the low salaries paid in state and local governments make holding office economically infeasible for lower-income citizens and contribute to the enduring numerical under-representation of the working class in our political institutions. Of course, raising politicians’ salaries could also make political office more attractive to affluent professionals, increasing competition for office and ultimately discouraging lower-income citizens from running and winning. In this article, we test these hypotheses using data on the salaries and economic backgrounds of state legislators. Contrary to the notion that paying politicians more promotes economic diversity, we find that the descriptive representation of the working class is the same or worse in states that pay legislators higher salaries. These findings have important implications for research on descriptive representation, political compensation, and political inequality.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 699 - 716
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beckett, Paul, and Sunderland, Celeste. 1957. “Washington State's Lawmakers: Some Personnel Factors in the Washington Legislature.” Western Political Quarterly 10: 180–202.Google Scholar
Berkman, Michael B., and O'Connor, Robert E.. 1993. “Do Women Legislators Matter? Female Legislators and State Abortion Policy.” American Politics Quarterly 21: 102–24.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy. 2004. “Paying Politicians: Theory and Evidence.” Journal of the European Economic Association 2 (2-3): 193–215.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Coate, Stephen. 1997. “An Economic Model of Representative Democracy.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 (1): 85–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumberg, Nick. 2014. “Voters to Decide on a Pay Raise for State Lawmakers.” KJZZ, October 23. http://kjzz.org/content/59158/voters-decide-pay-raise-state-lawmakers (April 2, 2015).Google Scholar
Bowen, Daniel C., and Greene, Zachary. 2014. “Should We Measure Professionalism with an Index? A Note on Theory and Practice in State Legislative Professionalism Research.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 14 (3): 277–96.Google Scholar
Bowen, T. Renee, and Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung. 2016. “The Voter's Blunt Tool.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 28 (4): 655–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broockman, David, Carnes, Nicholas, Crowder-Meyer, Melody, and Skovron, Christopher (producers and distributors). 2012. The 2012 National Candidate Study (dataset).Google Scholar
Broockman, David, and Skovron, Christopher. 2013. “What Politicians Believe About Their Constituents: Asymmetric Misperceptions and Prospects for Constituency Control.” Presented at the “Political Representation: Fifty Years after Miller and Stokes” conference, Nashville, TN. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csdi/miller-stokes/ (December 3, 2015).Google Scholar
Campbell, Rosie, and Cowley, Philip. 2014. “Rich Man, Poor Man, Politician Man: Wealth Effects in a Candidate Biography Survey Experiment.” British Journal of Politics and International Relations 16: 56–74.Google Scholar
Canon, David T. 1999. Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnes, Nicholas. 2013. White-collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carnes, Nicholas. 2016. “Why Are There So Few Working-class People in Political Office? Evidence from State Legislatures.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 4 (1): 84–109.Google Scholar
Casellas, Jason P. 2011. Latino Representation in State Houses and Congress. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Caselli, Francesco, and Morelli, Massimo. 2004. “Bad Politicians.” Journal of Public Economics 88 (3-4): 759–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Confidential. 2014. Confidential email to the author, December 10.Google Scholar
Diermeier, Daniel, Keane, Michael, and Merlo, Antonio. 2005. “A Political Economy Model of Congressional Careers.” American Economic Review 95 (1): 347–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domhoff, G. William. 1967. Who Rules America? Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Fausset, Richard. 2014. “Mostly Black Cities, Mostly White City Halls.” New York Times, September 28. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/us/mostly-black-cities-mostly-white-city-halls.html (April 2, 2015).Google Scholar
Ferraz, Claudio, and Finan, Frederico. 2009. “Motivating Politicians: The Impacts of Monetary Incentives on Quality and Performance.” NBER Working Paper 14906. http://www.nber.org/papers/w14906 (December 10, 2014).Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1994. “Divided Government in the American States: A Byproduct of Legislative Professionalism?” American Political Science Review 88 (2): 304–16.Google Scholar
Fitzsimon, Chris. 2010. “Legislative Pay the Latest Distortion of the Right.” NC Policy Watch. http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2010/09/02/legislative-pay-the-latest-distortion-of-the-right/#sthash.fwV5WxYS.dpuf (April 2, 2015).Google Scholar
Frank, Mark W. 2009. “Inequality and Growth in the United States: Evidence from the Current Population Survey: Note.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 56 (2): 349–54.Google Scholar
Gagliarducci, Stefano, and Nannicini, Tommaso. 2013. “Do Better Paid Politicians Perform Better? Disentangling Incentives from Selection.” Journal of the European Economic Association 11 (2): 369–98.Google Scholar
Griffin, John D., and Anewalt-Remsburg, Claudia. 2013. “Legislator Wealth and the Effort to Repeal the Estate Tax.” American Politics Research 41 (4): 599–622.Google Scholar
Grose, Christian. 2013. “Risk and Roll Calls: How Legislators’ Personal Finances Shape Congressional Decisions.” SSRN Working Paper 2220524. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220524 (June 17, 2015).Google Scholar
Hirsch, Barry T., and Macpherson, David A.. 2003. “Union Membership and Coverage Database: Note.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 56 (2): 349–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, Mitchell, and Lyons, Elizabeth. 2015. “Do Higher Salaries Lead to Higher Performance? Evidence from State Politicians.” May 29. http://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/PoliticianSalaries.pdf (December 10, 2014).Google Scholar
Hout, Michael, Manza, Jeff, and Brooks, Clem. 1995. “The Democratic Class Struggle in the United States, 1948–1992.” American Sociological Review 60: 805–28.Google Scholar
Hyneman, Charles S. 1940. “Who Makes Our Laws.” Political Science Quarterly 55: 556–81.Google Scholar
Key, V.O. Jr. 1956. American State Politics: An Introduction. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Kotakorpi, Kaisa, and Poutvaara, Panu. 2011. “Pay for Politicians and Candidate Selection: An Empirical Analysis.” Journal of Public Economics 95 (7-8): 877–85.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2005. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer L., and Fox, Richard L.. 2010. It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Maddox, H.W. Jerome. 2004. “Opportunity Costs and Outside Careers in U.S. State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 29 (4): 517–44.Google Scholar
Matthews, Donald R. 1954a. The Social Background of Political Decision-Makers. New York: Random House.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, Donald R. 1954b. “United States Senators and the Class Structure.” Public Opinion Quarterly 18: 5–22.Google Scholar
Mattozzi, Andrea, and Merlo, Antonio. 2008. “Political Careers or Career Politicians?” Journal of Public Economics 92: 597–608.Google Scholar
Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
National Institute of Money in State Politics. 2015. Election Overview. http://www.followthemoney.org/election-overview (December 8, 2015).Google Scholar
Orth, Samuel P. 1904. “Our State Legislatures.” Atlantic Monthly 94: 728–39.Google Scholar
Osborne, Martin J., and Slivinski, Al. 1996. “A Model of Political Competition with Citizen-Candidates.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111 (5): 65–96.Google Scholar
Rosenson, Beth A. 2006. “The Impact of Ethics Laws on Legislative Recruitment and the Occupational Composition of State Legislatures.” Political Research Quarterly 59 (4): 619–27.Google Scholar
Sadin, Meredith. 2012. “Campaigning with Class: The Effect of Candidate Social Class on Voter Evaluations.” http://cess.nyu.edu/policon2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Campaigning-with-Class-CESS-2012-Sadin.pdf (June 17, 2015).Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, Kira. 2006. Where Women Run: Gender and Party in the American States. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Shor, Boris, and McCarty, Nolan. 2011. “The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 105 (3): 530–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silbermann, Rachel. 2015. “Gender Roles, Work-Life Balance, and Running for Office.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 10 (2): 123–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sojourner, Aaron. 2013. “Do Unions Promote Electoral Office-Holding? Evidence from Correlates of State Legislatures’ Occupational Shares.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 66 (2): 467–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 1992. “Legislative Professionalization and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17 (1): 69–79.Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2007. “Measuring State Legislative Professionalism: The Squire Index Revisited.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7: 211–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swers, Michele. 2002. The Difference Women Make. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, Sue. 1991. “The Impact of Women on State Legislative Policies.” Journal of Politics 53: 958–76.Google Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica, and Valdini, Melody E.. 2008. “The Context Matters: The Effects of Single-Member versus At-Large Districts on City Council Diversity.” American Journal of Political Science 52: 554–69.Google Scholar
Weeden, Kim A., and Grusky, David B.. 2005. “The Case for a New Class Map.” American Journal of Sociology 111: 141–212.Google Scholar
Wright, Erik Olin. 1997. “Rethinking, Once Again, the Concept of Class Structure.” In Reworking Class, ed. Hall, John. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Zeller, Belle, ed. 1954. American State Legislatures. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.