There are many stories of democracy but little consensus over which variables robustly determine its emergence and … million regressions. The most robust determinants of the transition to democracy are GDP growth (a negative effect), past … countries are less likely to see democracy emerge, although the latter finding is driven entirely by oil producing Muslim …

subjects may exit. In a simple model, both kinds of competition are substitutes. Internal competition (democracy) benefits … democracy, and rulers are less eager to oppose it, when external competition is high. In a panel of countries, there are fewer … changes towards democracy when states have low GDP relative to their neighbours. …

In the study 'Do elites benefit from democracy and foreign aid in developing countries' (Journal of Development …

elitism that maximizes social mobility increases, while the welfare-maximizing degree of elitism decreases. The ranking … between the welfare- and mobility-maximizing degree of elitism may even be reversed. Utilitarian welfare is always higher when …

statistical framework, in a panel of 160 countries, we focus on 14 episodes of transition from democracy to autocracy. We find …

, conditionally on satisfactory performance as soldiers. When the elite cannot credibly commit to provide an incentive … through the extension of franchise. This is because democracy always implements a highly redistributive fiscal policy, which … makes fighting hard incentive-compatible for the citizens-soldiers. We show that a transition to democracy is more likely to …