Over the last two centuries, many countries experienced regime transitions toward democracy. We document this … democratic transition over a long time horizon. We use historical time series of income, education and democracy levels from 1870 … to 2000 to explore the economic factors associated with rising levels of democracy. We find that primary schooling, and …

We provide evidence that a history of democracy at the local level is associated with contemporary democracy at the … national level. Auxiliary estimates show that a tradition of local democracy is also associated with attitudes that favor … democracy, with better quality institutions, and higher level of economic development …

In this paper we revisit the relationship between democracy, redistribution and inequality. We first explain the … theoretical reasons why democracy is expected to increase redistribution and reduce inequality, and why this expectation may fail … to be realized when democracy is captured by the richer segments of the population; when it caters to the preferences of …

representative democracy. The basic association, however, is conditioned on the relative strength of the indigenous groups within a … Europe a positive impulse towards the development of representative democracy. It shows that contemporary regimes are shaped …

all world leaders from 1875 to 2004, we exploit inherent randomness in the success or failure of assassination attempts to … toward democracy. We also find that assassinations affect the intensity of small-scale conflicts. The results document a …

This paper assesses if voting for democracy affects long-term electoral participation. We study the effects of … participating in Chile's 1988 plebiscite, which determined whether democracy would be reinstated after a 15-year long military … argue that the plebiscite contributed to the emergence of one party rule the twenty years following democratization …