Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15695
Authors: Katherine Casey; Abou Bakarr Kamara; Niccolo Meriggi
Abstract: Are ordinary citizens or political party leaders better positioned to select candidates? While the American primary system lets citizens choose, most democracies rely instead on party officials to appoint or nominate candidates. The consequences of these distinct design choices are unclear: while officials are often better informed about candidate qualifications, they may value traits—like party loyalty or willingness to pay for the nomination—at odds with identifying the best performer. We partnered with both major political parties in Sierra Leone to experimentally vary how much say voters have in selecting Parliamentary candidates. Estimates suggest that more democratic procedures increase the likelihood that parties select voters’ most preferred candidates and favor candidates with stronger records of public goods provision.
Keywords: Political Selection; Information Provision; Primaries
JEL Codes: D72; H1; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| more democratic selection methods (D79) | increased representation of voter-preferred candidates (D79) |
| increased voter input (D72) | stronger public goods provision records of candidates (H40) |
| more democratic selection methods (D79) | nomination of candidates with stronger public goods provision records (D72) |