The law of survival of the political class: An analysis of the Italian parliament (1946-2013)

We study the role of age, re-election, gender, education, profession, party affiliation, area of election and different electoral systems on the political survival of 7127 members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Senate, observed from 1946 to 2013. Our results suggest that theories assuming a competitive political market for the selection of the candidates have a limited validity for survival in the Italian context, whereas the model assimilating the political class to an elite connected with interest groups that rules even through partially irrational motivation and fiscal illusion is more appropriate in providing a general explanation.