How to (s)elect the best policymaker. \\An experiment on democracy, meritocracy and lottocracy.

Adriano Giuliani (LUMSA University)
Matteo Rizzolli (LUMSA University)
Davide Marchegiani (The Australian National University)
Luca Corazzini (University of Milan - Bicocca)

Abstract

The quality of the political decision ultimately depends on the intrinsic characteristics and incentives of the policymaker. In this experiment, we manipulate the selection procedure of the policymaker and we assess its impact on the quality/efficiency of the decision-making process. In particular, we compare democracy %democratic election
(the policymaker is elected after a non-binding political campaign) with meritocracy (the citizen who best performs in an unrelated task is appointed as policymaker) and with lottocracy %sortition
(the policymaker is randomly selected among the pool of citizens). Results show that...

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