Politicians’ outside income is perceived differently. This is what ECONtribute Cluster member Carina Neisser and Nils Wehrhöfer have found out.
In Germany, federal politicians have to disclose information on their outside activities since 2005 and make them public since 2007. In their study, Carina Neisser and Nils Wehrhöfer examine how the transparency rules influence the behavior of politicians. They observed an increase of 15 percent in the outside income of members of the Bundestag in the years following the transparency reform. This effect can mainly be seen among politicians from the parties CDU/CSU and FDP.
A representative survey also showed that the perception of outside income depends on the political opinion. Voters of the CDU/CSU and FDP saw it as a sign of competence and diligence, while voters of the SPD, Linke and Grünen tended to see such income as a weakening of the representation of the people’s interests. These different perceptions could explain why CDU/CSU and FDP deputies in particular increased their additional income after the reform.
Find out more in the ECONtribute discussion paper and on FAZ.de.
