American Economic Review · 2021 · Katherine Casey、Abou Bakarr Kamara、Niccolò Francesco Meriggi
中文摘要
普通公民还是政党领袖更适合遴选候选人？尽管美国初选制度让公民选择，多数民主国家却依赖政党官员任命或提名候选人。这些不同制度设计的后果尚不明确：尽管官员往往更了解候选人资质，但他们可能看重与识别最佳表现者相悖的特质，如政党忠诚或为获得提名付费的意愿。我们与塞拉利昂两大主要政党合作，实验性地改变选民在遴选议会候选人时的发言权大小。估计表明，更民主的程序提高了政党选出选民最偏好候选人的可能性，并更有利于具有更强公共品供给记录的候选人。（JEL D72, H41, O17）
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. (JEL D72, H41, O17)