Replication Data for: Billionaire Politicians: A Global Perspective

This article introduces an original dataset of formal political participation for over 2,000 individuals included in the Forbes Billionaires List. We find that billionaire politicians are a surprisingly common phenomenon: Over 11% of the world’s billionaires have held or sought political office. Even compared to other elite groups known for producing politicians from their ranks, this is a high rate of political participation. Moreover, billionaires focus their political ambitions on influential positions, have a strong track record of winning elections, and lean to the right ideologically. We also document substantial cross-national variation: A country’s number of billionaire politicians is not simply a product of its total number of billionaires but is instead related to regime type. Indeed, billionaires formally enter the political sphere at a much higher rate in autocracies than in democracies. We conclude by discussing the normative implications of our findings and outlining a new research agenda on billionaire politicians.

本文介绍了一套原创数据集，收录了《福布斯》亿万富豪榜（Forbes Billionaires List）上2000余名个体的正式政治参与情况。研究发现，亿万富豪从政是一种出人意料地普遍的现象：全球范围内超11%的亿万富豪曾担任政治公职或谋求政治职位。即便与其他以群体内部涌现从政者著称的精英群体相比，该政治参与率也处于较高水平。此外，亿万富豪的政治抱负多聚焦于具影响力的职位，拥有出色的竞选获胜记录，且在意识形态上偏向右翼。本研究还揭示了显著的跨国差异：一国的亿万富豪从政者数量并非仅由该国亿万富豪总人数决定，而是与政权类型密切相关。事实上，相较于民主政体，威权政体下亿万富豪正式涉足政治领域的比例要高得多。最后，本文讨论了本研究发现的规范意涵，并勾勒出关于亿万富豪从政者的全新研究议程。