Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
We study the implications of state-dependent costs of policy mismatch in political agency models where politicians have reputational concerns and “good” politicians share the same objectives as the voters. We find that state-dependent costs can increase the set of parameters where pandering is an equilibrium strategy. Indeed, in our model, pandering can arise even without office rents. Moreover, we show that voters do not necessarily prefer biased politicians to be in favour of the policy that produces the cheapest expected cost of mismatch.