It is not immediately apparent why a state would willingly abolish the death penalty and thereby lose a powerful political instrument. The fact that some states abolish capital punishment while others retain it has thus far been explained by systematic differences in the values of politicians or...

The paper considers the significance of the problem of policymaker ignorance for political efforts to limit human suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To the extent that policymakers are ignorant of knowledge required to deliberately realize this goal, it can be realized only if luck,...

The world is searching for a new socioeconomic development paradigm, which is sometimes referred to as the “new reality.” Judging by the previous structural crises (in the 1930s and 1970s), this search takes about a decade characterized by volatile economic trends, political crises, and...

Successful governance implies that organizations, networks, or practices create public or club goods by constraining behavior, sharing information, or providing resources. While effective governance may require a functional state, compelling studies have theorized informal governance without...

Conventional wisdom in new institutional economics suggests that property rights become more secure following sovereign commitment. The article tests this axiom in the crucial case of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. I show that despite the wide-ranging constraints imposed after the...

Political mobilization of business forces in the post-communist world has crucial implications for economic development and civil society. The emergence of strong cross-sectoral business associations during Putin's presidency challenges the prevailing view of Russia's political economy as an...

We are witnessing the formation of a new paradigm that will dominate the socio-economic policy of the foreseeable future. This could be seen in 2019, but in 2020 led to a sharp acceleration of transformation processes. With all the differences of individual countries and regions, one can see...

This paper seeks to construct a model of government which will attract two sets of individuals: the altruistic (who seeks public service for the interest of the larger society) and the selfish (who seeks public service for the purpose of extracting rents for himself and members of group). When...