Introducing the LEAD Data Set

Cursus Honorum: Personal Background, Careers and Experience of Political Leaders in Democracy and Dictatorship—New Data and Analyses

“…and Ellis et al (2015) also collected data on various aspects of the personal background of political leaders. Ellis et al (2015) focus mainly on military aspects of the personal background of leaders from 1875-2004, however, their data also include other important aspects such as leaders' family and educational details.…”

“…and Ellis et al (2015) also collected data on various aspects of the personal background of political leaders. Ellis et al (2015) focus mainly on military aspects of the personal background of leaders from 1875-2004, however, their data also include other important aspects such as leaders' family and educational details. In turn, Dreher et al (2009) examine the impact of the individual background of 500 political leaders from 73 countries on economic reform from 1970-2002. 3 Likewise, include variables on the educational attainment of leaders from 1872-2004, following the eight-way classification of Ludwig (2002).…”

“…As a result, the new wave of leadership studies in political science and economics is extremely data-intensive (e.g., Alexiadou, 2015;Baturo, 2014;Byman & Pollack, 2001;Colgan, 2013;Dreher, Lein, Lamla, & Somogyi, 2009;Hayo & Neumeier, 2014;Horowitz & Stam, 2014;McDermott, 2007). While several new cross-national data sets have emerged that are able to account for various aspects of leaders' background and traits (e.g., Dreher et al, 2009;Ellis, Horowitz & Stam, 2015;Gerring, Oncel, Morrison, & Keefer, 2014;Ludwig, 2002), the majority of leadership studies focus, and provide data on, very specific aspects of leaders' personal background (e.g., Byman & Pollack, 2001;Horowitz & Stam, 2014); many only cover particular geographic regions or political regimes, e.g., only democracies or presidential regimes (e.g., Alexiadou, 2015;Baturo, 2014;Pérez-Liñán, 2009). …”

“…In particular, Cursus Honorum accounts for various aspects of political careers of leaders over long periods of time prior to assuming political office and even after. 1 The data set includes certain biographical details about leaders, their background, education, and professional experiences that the existing datasets on national political leaders also include albeit often for different country samples or other time periods (e.g., Alexiadou, 2015;Dreher et al, 2009;Ellis et al, 2015;Ludwig, 2002). The Cursus Honorum, however, offers much more detailed data on educational attainment, prior political posts and political experience, details about time in office and post-tenure occupations.…”

La trayectoria de los líderes políticos de la OCDE

“…Los resultados presentados en esta nota de investigación proceden de una base de datos original, a la que se le ha dado el nombre Ellis et al, (2015), se encuadra en esta línea, caracterizándose especialmente por la incorporación de la dimensión psicológica con variables relativas a la infancia y adultez del lí-der. Sin embargo, buena parte de estas bases son de carácter privado y recogen las variables que más interesan en relación con los estudios llevados a cabo por estos autores.…”