Philipp Barteska (Alesina Seminar)
Date and Time
Location
Today's Speaker
Philipp Barteska (HKS), "Personnel is Policy (Implementation): Bureaucrats and the Korean Miracle"
Abstract
Does the effect of industrial policy depend on the capacity of the bureaucrats implementing it? We exploit the three-yearly rotation of managers of South Korea's export promotion offices in 87 countries between 1965 and 2000 to show that a one standard deviation increase in bureaucrat ability boosts exports by 37% – suggesting the policy would have no effect if the implementing bureaucrats’ ability was one standard deviation lower. Under higher-ability bureaucrats, South Korean exports respond more strongly to a country's import demand, suggesting a more effective transmission of market information. Higher-ability bureaucrats are also more likely to serve multiple appointments, consistent with first appointments functioning as screening devices for bureaucrats. Lastly, bureaucrat experience matters - the products a bureaucrat is exposed to during their first appointment also see export increases in their subsequent appointments. This signifies that while organizational capacity can grow endogenously, it might also exhibit path dependence.
Co-sponsored by FAS and IQSS, the Alberto Alesina Seminar on Political Economy supports research-related activities that integrate the study of economics and politics, whether by studying economic behavior in the political process or political behavior in the marketplace. In general, positive political economy is concerned with showing how observed differences among institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic, and political systems and how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences, and strategies.
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All interested faculty and students are invited to attend.