Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? Voluntary Retirement from Danish Local Government

Abstract

Why do politicians choose to retire voluntarily from a position they have been working hard to get? It is argued in this article that the institutional setting of the elected assemblies influences the direct, as well as the alternative costs and benefits of having a political career and hence the patterns of voluntary retirement. Drawing on previous research from the United States Congress, this is explored in a new empirical setting: local government in Denmark. The results show that positions at the labour market matter as private‐sector employees are more likely to retire than public‐sector employees. Furthermore, internal institutional factors matter. Holding an institutional position such as chairing a committee makes retirement less likely. Furthermore, seniority makes the councillors more likely to retire when age is controlled for – a result not found in national studies. However, councillors who reach a high‐ranking position at an early stage are not more likely to quit with seniority than those who do not reach such a position. A high personal share of votes decreases voluntary retirement. In contrast to previous findings, the ideological distance from the ruling party does not play a role. This may be due to norms of consensus in the local councils.

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“…More than 40 percent of the respondents in this survey belonged to the 40 to 49 age group. In contrast, the Danish findings showed that only 18 percent of councillors were in this age group, and 40 percent of the respondents were councillors 60 years of age or older (Hjelmar et al 2010 …”

“…Holding an institutional position has been shown to be a decisive factor for councillors when it comes to choosing whether to stay or leave the council (Hjelmar et al 2010). Seniority (measured by the number of years in the council or in number of terms) is also an important factor, because people generally tend to move higher up the institutional ladder the longer they stay in the council.…”

“…This is partly age-related and partly related to the reality that the possibility of advancement to higher positions of power or prestige is limited at the local level. Thus, those who have reached the limit of advancement tend to leave (Hjelmar et al 2010). Therefore, seniority is expected to have a negative influence on councillors' willingness to stay in the council (H2).…”

“…Results showed that holding a higher institutional position was not significantly related to the councillors' decision to not run for council again. This is interesting, as an institutional position is usually seen as motivation for councillors to remain (Hjelmar et al 2010).…”

“…Although research on local councillor recruitment is less developed, there is still some notable work available on the subject (Verhelst, Reynaert, & Steyvers 2013). The voluntary retirement of local councillors has received even less attention (Aars & Offerdal 1998;Hjelmar, Olsen, & Pedersen 2010), although this affects how we view the development of political careers.…”