TWAIN LAW OF POLITICS

This article models the electoral process as a game of incomplete info rmation in which voters choose between candidates on the basis of the likelihood that each will fulfill the campaign promises made. The elec torate's uncertainty about the future behavior of its representatives means that some candidates will win seats even though they are not com mitted to performing as promised. Moreover because such candidates hav e more actions available to them than do their honest counterparts, th ey enjoy an electoral advantage until voters have acquired full inform ation about them. This advantage makes a political career more attract ive to dishonest individuals than to honest members of the same occupa tional class, so that dishonest people will tend disproportionately to enter politics.