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This article examines the effect of political professionalization on descriptive representation and the principal-agent problems in the European micro-states and six large-scale democracies since 1980. By doing so, the article revisits an ongoing debate about the consequences of having a political elite professionalized. Using an original data set consisting of the individual and legislative professionalization characteristics of twelve European sovereign states and the aggregate socio-demographic characteristics of parliamentarians at national parliaments, this article shows that while legislative professionalization is a determinant for descriptive representation, politicians’ professionalization is a negative determinant for political responsiveness and accountability. Moreover, this article underlines population size as a determinant for the descriptive representation of certain socio-demographic characteristics and it describes the null effect of population size on the negative causal relation of politicians’ professionalization on political responsiveness and accountability.

Are they one of us? The effect of political professionalization on the political elite's social closure and the principal-agent problems, 1978–2019