Technocrats in Cabinets: The Political and Policy Effects of Technocrat and Expert Ministers in Europe

What are the political and policy effects of technocratic appointments in parliamentary cabinets? Using a new dataset on ministers in European parliamentary democracies over the last twenty-five years, we address this question. We find support for our hypothesis that technocrat ministers have real political and policy effects, especially during periods of economic crises: they are associated with more cuts in social welfare and with labour market liberalization than expert or partisan ministers. The findings provide support for the argument that ministers’ career concerns, and not just their expertise, matter for their policy-making performance.