Journal Article

The politicians’ wage gap: insights from German Members of Parliament

By Andreas Peichl, Nico Pestel and Sebastian Siegloch

Publication details

Publication date
Published in
Public Choice
Volume
156
Pages
pp. 653–676
Publisher
Springer
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11127-012-9921-4
ISSN
485829

Summary

Using a unique dataset of German members of parliament (MPs), this paper analyzes the politicians' wage gap (PWG). After controlling for observable characteristics as well as accounting for election probabilities and campaigning costs, we find a positive income premium for MPs which is statistically and economically significant. Our results are consistent with the citizen candidate model, with a PWG of 35%-65% when comparing MPs to citizens occupying executive positions. However, it shrinks to zero when restricting the control group to top level executives.

Notes

Online in Albert Sloman Library, except current 12 months

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