Advantageous candidates and the selection process

I study elections where some candidates have an advantage unrelated to their competence. Although this advantage is negligible in general elections, it is significant during candidate selection by parties. Further, the built-in advantages of some candidates may be a measure of the political system’s inefficiency. The selection of candidates by a party is a crucial institution for this inefficiency to exist. Theoretically, I show that the preciseness of the party’s estimation of candidates’ chances of winning a general election has a non-monotonic effect.

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Publication Details

Journal
Rationality and Society
Published
2026-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/10434631261426169
Primary Topic
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Advantageous candidates and the selection process

Artyom Jelnov
Rationality and Society
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
article

Advantageous candidates and the selection process

Artyom Jelnov
article en

Abstract

I study elections where some candidates have an advantage unrelated to their competence. Although this advantage is negligible in general elections, it is significant during candidate selection by parties. Further, the built-in advantages of some candidates may be a measure of the political system’s inefficiency. The selection of candidates by a party is a crucial institution for this inefficiency to exist. Theoretically, I show that the preciseness of the party’s estimation of candidates’ chances of winning a general election has a non-monotonic effect.

Rationality and Society
Ariel University (IL)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
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