Wealth of Parliamentarians vs. General Public: Evidence from 2013 General Elections of Pakistan

This study compares net average assets of Members of Parliament (MPs) elected in the General Elections of 2013 in Pakistan and the public to examine whether the former are representative of common people on the basis of asset holding. The findings show that distribution of the net average assets of elected MPs is significantly different from the distribution of net average assets of the general public of Pakistan. All MPs, on average, fall in the top rich 5% people in the country. In other words, 95% MPs are not representative of the general people on the basis of asset holding. The study suggests that until the role of wealth is not decreased, there may not be any improvement in true representation of the people; and their basic issues such as health and education may remain unresolved.