In this paper, we study the causal effect of income growth on institutional quality in the 1984-2007 cross country panel. To focus on exogenous income windfalls, we employ international oil price shocks as an instrument for income growth. While national incomes and measures of institutional...

Because of its inappropriability, protection of property rights is widely recognized as being the state’s responsibility. Moreover, recent empirical evidence suggests that it leads to higher investment levels and faster growth. Nevertheless, the extent of property rights protection differs...

This Paper considers the emergence of institutions as a political outcome, arguing that the support for protection of private property rights is stronger the higher is the economy's aggregate income and the more equal its distribution. When these conditions initially hold, the politically...

This paper's point of departure is that low-quality institutions, concentration of political power, and underdevelopment are persistent over time. Its analytical model views an equal distribution of political power as a commitment device to enhance institutional quality thereby promoting growth....

Protection of property rights, as well as the burden of fiscal redistribution, have long been viewed as growth related factors. It is argued here that democratization may affect both. As the economy becomes more democratic, it creates high quality institutions such as public protection of...

This research revisits the cyclicality of fiscal policies. To identify and estimate more precisely the magnitude of a causal effect of cyclical income on government spending, we employ annual rainfall data as an instrument for national income in the context of sub-Saharan countries. Our results...