An economic analysis of political meritocracy

Abstract

The political system in China is often referred to as political meritocracy. This study develops a simple model of political economy to explore the strengths and weaknesses of a meritocratic system (in which political meritocrats design economic policies) relative to a democratic system (dominated by the median voter). We …nd that political meritocrats would choose economic policies that are more conducive to economic activities and lead to higher income but less public goods. Whether the meritocratic or democratic equilibrium achieves a higher level of social welfare depends on the distribution of individuals' abilities. If the ability of the median voter is lower than the mean of the population, then the meritocratic equilibrium may achieve a higher level of social welfare than the democratic equilibrium. In this case, there is a threshold degree of political inclusiveness in the meritocratic system above which political meritocracy dominates democracy in terms of social welfare, and this threshold degree of political inclusiveness is increasing in the ability of the median voter.

Public goods and diversity in democracies and non‐democracies

“…Similar results are found for various indicators of health and education (Lake & Baum, 2001), life expectancy (Besley & Kudamatsu, 2006), and environmental protection (Congleton, 1992).…”

“…Note that most of the literature distinguishes between democratic and non-democratic systems or autocracies Chu et al (2022). provide an exception by focusing on political meritocracies.…”