NANCY Seminar – Elisa MOUGIN (ENS Lyon)
The 2025/03/04
From 11:00am to 12:30pm
Event details :
Title: Selective Accountability: Performance Indicators and MPs’ Behavior, co-written with Tom BUCHOT and Charles LOUIS-SIDOIS
Abstract: Performance indicators transform political press coverage, yet their effects on MPs’ behavior remain unstudied. Using Nosdeputes.fr, the French website computing such indicators, we address this gap. We compile a comprehensive dataset of press articles, identifying all mentions of MPs’ indicators, to disentangle the effects of the website from those of indicator coverage. Performances increase following the website’s launch, further amplified by coverage. However, MPs explicitly mentioned do not show additional improvements. While transparency prompts some manipulation–e.g., increased copy-pasting–there is no evidence of strategic inflation in amendments or speeches. Thus, indicators enhance collective but not individual accountability, with limited adverse effects.
