Information, Polarization and Term Length in Democracy

This paper considers term lengths in a representative democracy where the political issue divides the population on the left-right scale, parties are ideologically di¤erent and better informed about the con-sequences of policies than voters are. A short term length makes the government more accountable, but the re-election incentive leads to policy-distortion as the government seeks to manipulate swing voters beliefs to make its ideology more popular. This creates a trade-o¤: A short term length improves accountability but gives distortions. A short term length is best for swing voters when the uncertainty is large and parties are not very polarized. Partisan voters always prefer a long term length. When politicians learn while in o ¢ ce a long term length becomes more attractive