This article investigates economic performance when enforceable property rights are missing and subsistence needs matter. It shows that if per capita income is sufficiently high, a windfall gain in productivity triggers behavior that leads to higher growth (the normal reaction). The same shock...

Two important lessons of all socialist experiments to date are: socialism has repeatedly failed to duplicate the accomplishments of capitalism, and socialism refuses to die. At the turn of 21st century, a new type of socialism, liberal socialism, is growing in Europe. Analysis shows that a major...

The modern state has monopolized the legitimate use of force. This concept is twofold. First, the state is empowered with enforcement rights; second, the rights of the individuals are (partly) restricted. In a simple model of property rights with appropriation and defense activity, we show that...

The modern state has monopolized the legitimate use of force. This concept is twofold. First, the state is empowered with enforcement rights; second, the rights of the individuals are (partly) restricted. In a simple model of property rights with appropriation and defense activity, we show that...

In this paper, we develop a politico-economic model to analyze the relationship between the mode of international investment and institutional quality in a non-democratic capital importing country. Foreign investors from a capital-rich North can either purchase productive assets in a...

Using a dynamic framework with strategic interactions, we study the management of a non-renewable natural resource when property rights are generally weak. Under generally weak property rights both the resource stock and the revenues from exploiting it are imperfectly protected, due to...

In this paper, we develop a politico-economic model to analyze the relationship between the mode of international investment and institutional quality in a non-democratic capital importing country. Foreign investors from a capital-rich North can either purchase productive assets in a...

The modern state has monopolized the legitimate use of force. This concept is twofold. First, the state is empowered with enforcement rights; second, the rights of the individuals are (partly) restricted. In a simple model of property rights with appropriation and defense activity, we show that...

Governments of rich nations tend to have high fiscal capacity while being credibly limited in their use of revenues (Johnson and Koyama 2017). This poses a puzzle. A government powerful enough to effectively enforce property rights under the rule of law is also powerful enough to prey upon the...

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...