Article Abstract: We develop and test a formal model of leader political life cycle effects within a selectorate framework. The model leads to novel hypotheses about the provision of public goods, private goods, and freedoms over a leader’s tenure in power. The analyses show, as hypothesized, that the total provision of benefits as well as the provision of public goods and freedoms decrease significantly the longer a leader is in power, whereas the proportion of rewards in the form of private goods (such as corruption opportunities) increases.
Political Life Cycles was authored by Justin Melnick, Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. It was published by Chicago in JOP in 2025 est..
