regime changes are often followed by redistribution to the poor at the expense of the former elite. We argue that the reason … why the elite may have to resort to full-scale democratization, despite its apparent costs to themselves, may be that …Regimes controlled by a rich elite often collapse and make way for democracy amidst widespread social unrest. Such …

the reasons for being poor. We develop and test a theo-ry about support for redistribution in the presence of target …-specific beliefs about the causes of low and high incomes. Our theory predicts that target-specific beliefs about the poor matter most … welfare recipients supports our theory. We also find, in theory, the ex-istence of a moral release equilibrium in which the …

changes in wealth distribution, and c) the size of the ruling class, “elite”. In the conflict stage, institutional quality … positively depends on the wealth of the elite, but negatively – on the size of the elite class. However, the transition from … institutional trap. Moreover, the intensity of rent-seeking behavior increases both with progressive redistribution of wealth and …