Among other areas such as housing and urban renewal, economic development was seen as a key factor in the recovery in Leipzig. The City Department of Economic Development and the Economic Initiative Mitteldeutschland, a lobby group representing large regional employers, designed a cluster...

It has long been recognized that the media play an essential role in governmentaccountability. However, even in the absence of censorship, the government mayinfluence news content by maintaining a "cozy" relationship with the media. Thispaper develops a model of democratic politics in which...

We examine associations of mass media and information and communicationstechnologies (ICT) as knowledge-based infrastructures on some economicdevelopment outcomes. We .nd that several mass media and ICT penetration variablesare negatively associated with three development outcomes: corruption,...

Mass media can play a key role in enabling citizens to monitor the actions of incumbents and to use this information in their voting decisions. Thiscan lead to government which is more accountable and responsive to itscitizens’ needs. In spite of the intuitive plausibility of the proposition,...

The determinants of government responsiveness to its citizens is a key issue in politicaleconomy. Here, we develop a model based on the solution of political agency problems.Having a more informed and politically active electorate strengthens incentives for governmentsto be responsive. This...