|
Richard Jankowski |
SUNY Fredonia is holding its fourth and final Social Science Colloquium of the semester with Professor Richard Jankowski from the Department of Political Science. He will give a presentation titled, “Who Guards the Guardians: The Life-Cycle Earnings of Citizen Candidates.”
The event will take place on Wednesday, April 27 at noon in room E-122 of Thompson Hall. It is free and open to the public. Pizza and beverages will be provided.
The principal-agent problem is everywhere in today’s society. Agents pursue their self interest at the expense of principals. This problem is significant in democracies, because our elected representatives have so much power. The Public Choice literature argues that rent seeking by government agents is the norm, which means the government uses its resources to obtain an economic gain from others without reciprocating any benefits back to society. The reason why rent seeking occurs is because it is assumed that individuals pursue only their self interest.
“There two types of candidates that run for office,” says Dr. Jankowski. “The first is purely self interested, and the other is those who have regard for others. There are three basic decisions that they must make over the course of their lifetime. One, whether to run for office; two, whether to engage in rent seeking; and three, whether to continue in politics, or accept a position outside of politics. This talk will present a formal model of the decision that citizen candidates must make to run for office.”
During the presentation, Jankowski examines three questions including should we pay our representatives more or less; what is the impact of term limits on our representatives’ behavior; and what effect do post political careers have on politicians’ performance in the office?
The presentation is sponsored by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences..
To learn more, contact Dr. Jack Croxton, professor of Psychology and coordinator of the Social Science Colloquiums, at 716-673-3123 or Jack.Croxton@fredonia.edu.
