The politics of economic adjustment: technocratic appointments and representation in economically advanced democracies

During the current debt crisis in Eu¬rope a number of unelected ministers have been appointed to government to resolve the economic crisis. Com¬mentators argue that such appoint¬ments hurt democracy and are unlikely to succeed. However, appointments of un-elected ministers with policy exper¬tise, defined here as technocrats, are not unique to the current economic crisis. Nonetheless, to this day, we have little understanding of the economic impact of unelected ministers. This essay asks the following two questions: First, when do prime ministers appoint technocrat ministers over partisans? Secondly, are technocrat ministers more or less able than partisan ministers to implement policy reforms?