Scientific article 19. APR 2024
Inclusive meritocracy: ability and descriptive representation among Danish politicians.
Authors:
- Jens Olav Dahlgaard
- Rasmus T. Pedersen
Management and implementation
Management and implementation
![](/media/gx4lhnpd/zp3b9411_uskarp.jpg?rxy=0.63%2C0.34&width=1440&height=658&rnd=133135174184170000&mode=crop&quality=80)
Can democracies attract and elect politicians who are both high-ability and from diverse backgrounds? Using data covering the entire Danish population, including every candidate for local and national elections in 1990–2015, we explore the selection of political candidates. We show that Danish candidates and elected politicians have higher ability than the voters they represent, that selection on ability reflects individual skills rather than social background, that politicians are selected from economically diverse backgrounds, and that there is no substantial trade-off between ability and representation. Furthermore, we utilize a major structural reform, which significantly reduced the number of municipalities in Denmark, to show that increased political competition did not affect politicians’ ability, economic background, or the trade-off between the two.
Authors
- Jens Olav DahlgaardRasmus T. Pedersen
About this publication
Published in
Political Science Research and Methods