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Review our cookies information for more details This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Review our cookies information for more details [_0000s_0003_daily-chart] Graphic detail Charts, maps and infographics • Previous • Next • Latest Graphic detail • Latest from all our blogs Daily chart The one about the politician and the economist Feb 27th 2013, 17:05 by Economist.com • • Tweet What political leaders did before they took office A POLITICIAN, a businessman, a comedian and an economist walk into a room. Unfortunately, this is not a joke—they all vie for the position of Italy's next prime minister. At an election this week the politician received the most votes, but not enough to govern. A deadlock now ensues. The career background of Italy's previous prime ministers is similarly eclectic. Between 1973 and 2010, the two main jobs held by prime ministers before they came to power were split roughly equally between lawyer, professor, and politician or civil servant. Economists featured only three times out of 23. And elsewhere, prime ministers with an economics background are also rare. According to a paper by Mark Hallerberg of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and Joachim Wehner of the London School of Economics and Political Science, policymakers with "technical competence" are more likely to hold office during a crisis. The authors found that a banking crisis increases the probability of having an economist as prime minister; a professor is more likely to hold the position during stockmarket crashes or inflation crises. Italy's Mario Monti and Greece's Lucas Papademos are recent examples. Unfortunately, voters seem inclined to get rid of them at the earliest opportunity. [20130302_woc154_0] Previous [20130302_in] Focus: Academic papers Next [20130302_wo] Daily chart: The numbers behind the ratings • Recommend 223 • • Tweet • Submit to reddit • • Featured comment View thread clandestino in reply to cowichan61 Feb 27th 2013 20:09 GMT The chart displays the occupational backgrounds of prime ministers or presidents, not their educational backgrounds. In figure 1 on page 14 of the original paper, Canada is shown to have (had) prime ministers holding both undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics, as well as relatively "competent" central bankers. Hence the attraction of Carney to the UK... • Recommend 12 • Report • Permalink • reply View all comments (86)Add your comment Related items TOPIC: Italy » • Italian politics: Heading off the populists • The World Cup: The countdown begins • Lexington: Why Americans are so angry Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers. Review our comments policy. * Add a comment (up to 5,000 characters): [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [Post] Sort: • Newest first • Oldest first • Readers' most recommended • Featured • 1 • 2 • 3 • next › • last » Ngamudji Mar 3rd 2013 23:58 GMT I have some doubts about the graph's accuracy. It says that nearly 30% of Australian Prime Ministers were university professors before becoming PM, and that this was the third most common occupation of individuals who became PM. To the best of my knowledge, not one of Australia's 27 PMs was a university professor. Nor have any held a PhD. We have had several lawyers, a medical doctor, two school teachers, two coal miners, several union officials, a municipal clerk and a roadie for a rock band. But no professors. The closest we have come is Dr Herbert V ("Doc") Evatt, who had a PhD, was President of the UN General Assembly and a High Court judge. Evatt led the Labor Party in the 50s but never made it to PM - the highest office he reached was External Affairs Minister and was later Leader of the Opposition. On the conservative side of politics, Dr John Hewson, taught economics at university level. He led the Liberal Party in the early 90s as Opposition Leader, but famously (here) lost the "unloseable election" of 1993. Canada at least had one PM with a PhD, William Mackenzie King, so they are ahead of us in this department. But the graph shows Canada as scoring only 10%. • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply Lambda11 Mar 1st 2013 11:00 GMT I don't get this chart at all (and I'm a statistician so data analysis is my thing). I can accept some lines totalling more that 100% since some people will be classed in more than one category. However, if this is the case then why is Spain then only 75% in total? Can someone explain what I'm missing. Doesn't seem a good representation in any case since the totals aren't then comparable. Thanks! • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply guest-woojmme Feb 28th 2013 18:48 GMT It does not add to 100 percent (sometimes more, sometimes less)... flawed analysis? • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply sanmartinian in reply to guest-woojmme Feb 28th 2013 20:02 GMT to guest-woojmme on not not adding up to 100% . As explained further below by another fellow poster, politicians can belong to more than one category so totals are 100% only by accident. . When numbers don't add up in our mind, it's probable the flaw is our mind, not in the others'. . Or, as Poirot is supposed to have said, when facts and reasoning do not match, something is wrong with facts. • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply sanmartinian Feb 28th 2013 17:41 GMT Echoing fellow poster California Robert, engineers are absent from the list. . But then we did have Jimmy Carter, didn't we? . Would you like a repeat? . Nor doctors. . Except of course Baby Doc and his father in Haiti. . As an engineer myself with a very healthy disrespect for politics, I guess we'd better stay away from that peculiar world of intrigue and incompetence. • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply California Robert Feb 28th 2013 16:03 GMT Would that I could vote for an engineer. • Recommend 4 • Report • Permalink • reply Karen Ronk in reply to California Robert Mar 1st 2013 2:00 GMT Did you steal that line from Dr.Seuss? • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply UDSrez24vA Feb 28th 2013 15:27 GMT There is at least one clear error. At least one president of Mexico was an economist. Ernesto Zedillo PhD in Economics from Yale and currently a professor at the same university • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply teacup775 Feb 28th 2013 14:52 GMT For Italy, you might want add the study of women's lingerie. • Recommend 7 • Report • Permalink • reply Rosaalba Feb 28th 2013 14:42 GMT We had a lady economist, Tansu Ciller, as the prime minister of Turkey in the 1990s.The economy did not fare any better, arguably, she was quite bad at the job. • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply egeli Feb 28th 2013 14:16 GMT How does this chart work? None of the rows add up to a 100% • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply CaptainObvious66 in reply to egeli Feb 28th 2013 15:44 GMT in the bottom right hand corner it says that positions are not mutually exclusive. ie anyone can be identified as more than one of the above. • Recommend 4 • Report • Permalink • reply Tria Err Feb 28th 2013 13:35 GMT So Greece followed by Italy have the most economists as political leaders. Hows that working out? • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply Anduril Feb 28th 2013 11:34 GMT "A POLITICIAN, a businessman, a comedian and an economist walk into a room. " Perfectly natural for the mob and lobby rule in current Western democracies. • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply Christoph Horvay Feb 28th 2013 10:58 GMT The prevalence of lawyers and civil servants explains quite well the wide-spread deficiency in ethics and technical competence among political leaders. I am not Italian, but I consider any proper clown preferable to Silvio Berlusconi. P.S. I wonder how anyone can compile data on the occupational background of Swiss prime ministers when that office (or an office comparable to it) does not exist. • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply semicontinuous Feb 28th 2013 8:23 GMT Just goes to show that politicians make the best politicians... surprisingly enough... The top countries in this list are all very well managed, are they not? • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply spartan33 Feb 28th 2013 7:40 GMT Political leadership of countries should bar candidacy to lawyers, economists and professors. • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply Vive_chimie in reply to spartan33 Feb 28th 2013 8:40 GMT Don't you believe in democracy and political freedom? • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply Anti-Racist Feb 28th 2013 7:12 GMT The reason Ireland isn't ranked highly here is because most of our ploiticans are gangsters. • Recommend 6 • Report • Permalink • reply Garib Singh Feb 28th 2013 6:59 GMT Greece has had an Economist and a Professor? Think they don't like a think... what say eh? • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply MDesmond Feb 28th 2013 5:00 GMT Probably a good thing that you left the clowns off your chart. • Recommend 12 • Report • Permalink • reply sanmartinian in reply to MDesmond Feb 28th 2013 17:33 GMT To MDesmond on clowns having been left off the chart . Thank God they were. . As positions are not mutually exclusive, and judging by the performance of politicians these days, clowns would reach 100% for most countries. . The last statesman I remember was Helmut Schmidt. Unfortunately I didn't agree with his ideology. . Well, you can't have it all. • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply MDesmond Feb 28th 2013 4:58 GMT . • Recommend 2 • Report • Permalink • reply Varq Feb 28th 2013 3:33 GMT This is a pretty restricted list of occupations. Without reaching far I can immediately think of heads of government and members of cabinet who were soldiers, sailors, airmen, scientists, engineers, medical doctors, airline pilots, lounge singers on cruise ships and many other things. Admittedly, such a survey can't list all possible occupations but four really is limited. And what is a professor? The first question that naturally springs to mind if someone is identified as a "professor" is, "Of what?" Surely that is a much more imporotant point than the person's professorship? This question is reminiscent of those articles which describe someone who has been out of work for a long time, and yet, " She has a degree." "In what?" I ask. All degrees and all professors are not created equal and to lump them all together is ludicrous. • Recommend 15 • Report • Permalink • reply Christoph Horvay in reply to Varq Feb 28th 2013 11:09 GMT We should not forget Jimmy Carter, the peanut grower who consulted with his teenage daughter prior to spreading a butter-smooth opinion on political topics of global relevance across all floors of the White House, or Nancy Reagan who (or who's astrologers) probably had more executive power than her presidential actor-husband Ronald. Who was/is the lounge singer? • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply 5An8tTmHCs in reply to Christoph Horvay Feb 28th 2013 15:00 GMT That is very generous of you to call Ronald and actor.....! • Recommend 3 • Report • Permalink • reply Varq in reply to Christoph Horvay Mar 5th 2013 6:08 GMT Silvio Berlusconi. • Recommend 1 • Report • Permalink • reply Laconophile Feb 28th 2013 3:09 GMT What is this supposed to be? An abacus? This chart makes no sense. • Recommend 27 • Report • Permalink • reply • 1 • 2 • 3 • next › • last » • Comment (86) • Print • E-mail • Permalink • Reprints & permissions • About Graphic detail A new chart or map every working day, interactive-data features and links to interesting sources of data around the web Follow us on Twitter @EconDailyCharts RSS feed ● Advertisement [a] Videographics Explore trending topics Comments and tweets on popular topics [a] [a] Follow The Economist • Facebook • Twitter Follow @TheEconomist • Linked in Follow • Google plus • Tumblr Follow • Pinterest Follow • YouTube Follow • RSS RSS feeds by section & topic Excerpts from the print edition & blogs » • Mail Free e-mail newsletters Editor's Highlights, The World This Week, and more » Latest blog posts - All times are GMT [_0025_] Trouble at the Panama Canal: Your money or your locks Americas view 1 hrs 26 mins ago [erasmu] Political Islam: A movement in motion Erasmus 2 hrs 6 mins ago [_0013_] Religious objections to Obamacare: The butterfly effect Democracy in America 3 hrs 5 mins ago [_0024_] Writing worth reading: Dark matter Babbage 3 hrs 49 mins ago [_0013_] Cannabis legalisation: Reefer madness Democracy in America January 3rd, 17:47 [_0019_] Remembering Elizabeth Jane Howard: Mining discomfort Prospero January 3rd, 16:50 [_0006_] South African aviation: Ready for take-off, again Gulliver January 3rd, 16:03 More from our blogs » Most popular • Recommended • Commented Recommended • Taking Europe’s pulse1European economy guideTaking Europe’s pulse • 2Global house prices: Location, location, location • 3Democracy: Angry voters • 4Musical politics: Artists v autocrats • 5Corruption in Turkey: The Arab road Commented • See you at Yasukuni1Japan's shrine and regional tensionsSee you at Yasukuni • 2Political insurgency: Europe’s Tea Parties • 3French culture: Bleak chic • 4British immigration: You’re welcome • 5Russia and Ukraine: Putin’s expensive victory Advertisement [a] Economist blogs • Analects | China • Americas view | The Americas • Babbage | Science and technology • Banyan | Asia • Baobab | Africa • Blighty | Britain • Buttonwood's notebook | Financial markets • Cassandra | The World in 2014 • Charlemagne | European politics • Democracy in America | American politics • Eastern approaches | Ex-communist Europe • Erasmus | Religion and public policy • Feast and famine | Demography and development • Free exchange | Economics • Game theory | Sports • Graphic detail | Charts, maps and infographics • Gulliver | Business travel • Newsbook | News analysis • Prospero | Books, arts and culture • Pomegranate | The Middle East • Schumpeter | Business and management • The Economist explains | Questions answered daily Products & events Stay informed today and every day Get e-mail newsletters Subscribe to The Economist's free e-mail newsletters and alerts. 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