Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Politicians’ traits and public policies: learning how personal features influence fiscal outcomes

Objective

Nowadays there is little doubt that maximizing social welfare is not the sole goal of policymakers. Policy choices such as the level of taxation and spending are at the core of public economics. A positive approach to this field takes into account the fact that budgets and policies are set by political agents who are office-seekers. Early studies on political economy have focused on institutional factors, voters’ preferences, interests groups, and party ideology as major drivers of public policies. But a growing number of theoretical and empirical studies have started to examine the particular features of political leaders (e.g. gender or ethnicity) as relevant determinants of economic outcomes and policies.

This project seeks to contribute to the understanding of how the individual traits of politicians affect public policies. This approach shifts the focus of attention from political parties to individual legislators. In examining the impact of parties on policies, studies often treat parties as homogeneous units. In contrast, this project takes into consideration the heterogeneity of its members in several dimensions.

In particular, this project revolves around two topics. First, the politician‘s loyalty to her political party and its impact on public spending. A legislator may be reluctant to follow the party line if this generates a conflict with her constituents’ interests. To foster loyalty, parties may use discretionary spending targeted at specific districts. The second topic is the level of education of politicians. This project examines the possibility that education is not only a reflection of the level of skills but it acts as a dimension of political representation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2016

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 170 121,60
Address
GRAN VIA DE LES CORTS CATALANES 585
08007 BARCELONA
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 170 121,60
My booklet 0 0