Politicians and Incentives

[The Real Bingo]

[brandon184]

I'm really not a fan of any kind of incentives when it comes to getting performance out of someone. People have a natural tendency over time to attempt to game whatever the incentives are to their advantage. Incentives also attract particular kinds of individuals whose intentions aren't wholesome.

You need to get money out of politics. Quit making it a gigantic payday for everyone involved and get people in there who have an actual interest in solving problems for the good of the country. Look for qualified individuals, pay them well, give them a good pension and take it all away if they are ever caught abusing their position of power in a conflict of interest scenario.

[Whir]

Are you nuts, brandon? No one would ever want to be a politician if they had to work hard without kickbacks!

[The Real Bingo]

The lack of performance incentives and the general security of the jobs is why government is inefficient. It's not everyone, but there's a good chance that a public employee has got the mindset, "doesn't matter...I'm getting paid regardless". Politician's goals are measurable and quantifiable...moving to an incentive-based pay scheme would discourage politicians from making promises they can't keep and encourage them to actually work towards goals they set.

[Whir]

You must be living in some sort of crazy utopian world where people are honest and caring, man.

[thephilosophizer]

The lack of performance incentives and the general security of the jobs is why government is inefficient. It's not everyone, but there's a good chance that a public employee has got the mindset, "doesn't matter...I'm getting paid regardless". Politician's goals are measurable and quantifiable...moving to an incentive-based pay scheme would discourage politicians from making promises they can't keep and encourage them to actually work towards goals they set.

I agree with the first part of what you're saying, I'm somewhat less inclined to malign public employees, but certainly the incentives for politicians don't line up with the public interest. Politicians have one fundamental goal, from which other goals follow, to get elected. And because, with special reference to congress, there are no term limits, this means that the motivation to get elected is always present. The lengthened terms of the senate were meant to address that very issue, but not only do people live much longer now, but also there's the incentive to get your party elected, which is a very similar goal.
So if the primary goal of a politician is to get elected, the incentives that are most appealing to a politician are things that will help them get elected, and reelected. And what helps a politician get elected? Money. Voting record, performance history, none of that matters for much. Politicians of all cloths are expert at blaming their failure on someone else, and the entire system is massively successful in masking where politicians get their money from.
Performance based pay would never matter unless politicians only served one term, and received a very large payment for successful service. With the median net worth of a congressmen over $900,000, performance pay, especially something received 10 years after the work, would have to be very significant. But as long as a politician's first incentive is getting elected, performance isn't going to matter.
Our electoral system is sick. And after the court so supremely displayed its inability to represent democracy vis-a-vis citizens united, there's is little hope of anything improving any time soon. Performance pay for politicians is a novel, yet ultimately useless idea for improvement.
I'd also point out the Dubner is not the economist amongst the two Steves, he's the journalist.

[The Real Bingo]

You must be living in some sort of crazy utopian world where people are honest and caring, man.

I think I'm exactly the opposite world - reality. Utopia would be having faith in people to do the right thing no matter what...in which case there would be no need for incentives. Incentives are there primarily because people are selfish, self-interested, and ultimately will only do something useful if it benefits them in some way (in the long run).

[tony_j15]

It's not everyone, but there's a good chance that a public employee has got the mindset, "doesn't matter...I'm getting paid regardless".

That's different from privately employed people how? I've had good and bad experiences with both the private and public sector. Just because someone is employed by GE rather than the USA has no real effect on their behavior, IMO.

There already has been a novel idea presented to get the money out of politics: outlaw it. Add a small tax, pool the cash, and everyone who runs for Federal office gets to dip in. This would effectively solve the problem of politicians being beholden to special interests and would insure that they attempt to represent their people, not their corporations. It would also solve the problem of the person spending the most money winning.