• bureaucracy
• degree of trust
• incentive contracts
• multi-tasking problem
• political accountability
• rent- seeking
• political agency model

Economists have widely investigated the framework of politics and politicians, its mechanisms and its results. We collect some works, both theoretical and empirical, that describe some typical behaviour of politicians. In particular we focus on the following topics: political accountability, through the electoral systems and the role of citizens, the function of bureaucracy, the issue of multitasking. Finally we present a dynamic model that focuses on the degree of trust among voters.