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

Urbanisation in China has long been held back by various restrictions on land and internal migration but has taken off since the 1990s, as these impediments started to be gradually relaxed. People have moved in large numbers to richer cities, where productivity is higher and has increased...

This paper offers an institutional explanation for the growth, organizational transformations, and decline of the piquetero social movement in Argentina, developed from a comparative perspective based on Latin America. I analyze which institutional arrangements, political actors, and...

During the global financial crisis, the Russian banking system has experienced a significant increase in nonperforming loans. The Russian government has carried out massive recapitalization of major banks to maintain their stability. To evaluate the effectiveness of this policy it is necessary...

Studying the provision of public goods in 74 Russian regions between 2004-2009 provides an opportunity to test this hypothesis. Results show that governors appointed by the federal government provide more public goods (in this case, education and health care) than governors drawn from local...

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

Will autocratic governments implement policies to satisfy the people’s demands in order to prevent large scale social unrest? This paper explores this question through quantitatively analysis of the political economy of public goods provision in Chinese provinces. I collected data on the...

In this paper we try to elucidate the proper manner to evaluate economic theories and systems within the present financial crisis context. The main lines of argumentation are as follows: appeals to facts cannot settle the liberalism/etatism debate; the deadlock has an important...

Performance-based promotion schemes in administrative hierarchies have limitations. Chinese provincial leaders, despite facing strong career concerns, make different policy decisions depending on their career backgrounds. Provincial party secretaries who rose from low to high positions within...