Italian Members of the Parliament

These data contain detailed information on all individuals who have been elected to the Camera dei Deputati of the Italian Parliament (the House), since the inception of the Italian Republic in 1948. The data span 60 years (1948-2008), 15 Legislatures, and the two Republics (Italy’s First Republic, from 1948 to 1994, and the Second Republic, which began with the election of the 12th Legislature in 1994).

Data were originally collected for the report “The Labor Market of Italian Politicians” by Antonio Merlo (University of Pennsylvania), Vincenzo Galasso (IGIER-Università Bocconi), Massimiliano Landi (Singapore Management University) and Andrea Mattozzi (California Institute of Technology), with the support of the fRDB staff. The report was presented at the X European Conference “The Ruling Class” of the Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti.

The dataset

In addition to comprehensive information on individuals’ demographic characteristics (such as their age, gender and education), their last occupation prior to entering Parliament, and their electoral history and record of service in Parliament (including, possibly, election to the Senate, committee membership and government positions),the dataset also contains partial information on legislators’ attendance of parliamentary voting sessions (for Legislatures VIII-XV), their annual income from their tax returns (from 1981 to 2005), their involvement in scandals (from 1948 to 1994), and their occupation after leaving Parliament (for a representative sub-sample of individuals).
These data document several important aspects of the career profiles of 4,465 Italian legislators, from the time they enter the House to when they either leave Parliament or the sample ends.

In particular, for each individual in the sample, the dataset contains:

1. Biographical data (i.e., date and place of birth, gender, educational background, last occupation held prior to entering the Parliament, party affiliation, and region or district where elected).
2. The full record of parliamentary service (with the exact dates of entry and, if applicable, exit), of committee and parliamentary group membership, of leadership positions within the Parliament, and of all government posts held while in Parliament.
3. Annual parliamentary wage since 1948.
4. Attendance of parliamentary voting sessions for Legislatures VIII-XV.
5. Mode of exit (i.e., voluntary exit, electoral defeat or death).
6. Annual before-tax declared income from 1981 to 2005.
7. Scandals from 1948 to 1994.
8. Post-Parliament employment (for a random sample of 860 MPs) on the first two-and-an-half years after the end of their last parliamentary term.