's military dictatorship whose rise to power dramatically altered the distribution of power of local political elites. We document …This paper analyzes how changes in the concentration of political power affect long-run development. We study Brazil …'s policies aimed at undermining the power of traditional elites. These policies increased political competition locally, which …

) and civil society (representing non-elite citizens), where both players can invest to increase their power. The model …. We develop a dynamic contest model of the potential competition between state (controlled by a ruler or a group of elites …

society consists of rich and poor individuals. The rich are initially in power, but expect to transition to democracy, which … rents for bureaucrats than would an efficient state structure. When the poor come to power in democracy, they will reform …

unanticipated) changes in the distribution of political power and in economic structure. We focus on the Markov Voting Equilibria …, which require that economic and political changes should take place if there exists a subset of players with the power to … institutions as well as individual types can be ordered, and preferences and the distribution of political power satisfy natural …

development quest. The sample includes seven developing countries--Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, India, Vietnam and Brazil …

political power can lead to multiple equilibria in the determination of public education spending. The main predictions of the …

enterprise can flourish. I focus on the role that internal promotion can play in bringing to power individuals who highly value …

civic participation, including voting and organizing. In the battle between democracy and dictatorship, democracy has a wide … potential base of support but offers weak incentives to its defenders. Dictatorship provides stronger incentives to a narrower …