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To many, the prospect of a career in elected politics seems not only unappealing, but daunting and intimidating. Despite this, a small portion of the population remains resolute in their desire to enter the political arena. I will define entering politics as seeking election to a political office. To start out, I will examine why individuals enter politics and how they make this decision. I will argue that the primary reason some citizens are more likely to enter politics than others is the costs associated with running for office.
Like any decision, the choice to run for office ultimately boils down to comparing the benefits with the associated costs. Gordon Black (1972) argued that citizens are more likely to run for office based on the potential benefits of doing so. He derived the utility function: U(Office) = (B x P) – C where U(Office) is the potential reward for entering political office, B is the benefits of achieving office, P is the likelihood of obtaining office, and C is the costs of attaining a position in office. The benefits a candidate is seeking vary greatly from person to person but can include noble goals such as furthering their own career, improving people’s lives, or their area. However, there do exist people who wish to gain power for less commendable reasons, such as enriching themselves through corruption. Although there are many costs to entering politics, the largest and most imminent is the cost of campaigning.
The most significant factor in determining which citizens enter politics is the cost of running for office. As well as the financial costs of campaign spending and countless hours spent campaigning, there are other drawbacks to running for office. These include the stress of the campaign, the invasion of privacy, and even the burnout and boredom of attending countless campaign events. These costs mean that those who make the decision to enter politics are often from the ‘elite’. The most tangible cost of running for office is the monetary cost. In Nigeria, the cost of securing a place on the ballot paper at the 2015 parliamentary elections was over NGN 2 million ( $7,000 USD). When looked at in comparison to an average annual salary of $2,850USD in the same year, it shows that the financial costs involved mean entering politics isn’t an option for the average Nigerian. The picture is starker in Ukraine where the cost of a place on a party list is estimated to be $3-5 million USD. These costs mean those who enter politics often come from similar careers and backgrounds. In the USA for example, over 45% of national legislators have a background in law. The monetary costs are therefore seen to prevent people from non ‘elite’ backgrounds entering politics. Those from ‘elite’ backgrounds can leverage connections to gain funding. This is seen as among non-incumbent House candidates in the USA, lawyers raised an average of $105,861, more than doubling the average of $52,360 (Bonica, 2020).
The relatively low salaries in politics also attract those from ‘elite’ backgrounds who are in less need of money and mean that entering politics is less accessible to middle and working-class individuals. When the financial returns of holding office are sufficiently low, many potential candidates choose not to enter the political arena, opting instead for careers with higher salaries. This has the effect that the best talent does not enter politics.. On the other hand, increasing a politician's salary would not be a panacea in improving the quality of our politicians. There is evidence that higher salaries are associated with a decrease in the average quality of politician (Mattozzi and Merlo, 2008), as it may contribute to an increase in career politicians who are less policy focussed. Although there is much contrasting evidence, salaries only act to prevent non-elite candidates from entering politics up to a certain point. Past this point, there is no correlation between salaries and the type of candidate entering.
The most significant determinant of why some citizens are more likely to enter politics than others is the cost of running for office. This acts as a barrier to non-elite candidates who lack the financial means to campaign and ability to raise money using connections, ultimately resulting in politicians being from largely homogenous, ‘elite’ backgrounds.
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