This paper analyses the impact of the fear of losing social status (la peur du déclassement) on the levels of democratisation and economic growth. In a formal model where education makes an individual's vote count and generates positive externalities for all agents in the economy, I examine the...

Eliaz (2004) has established a 'meta-theorem' for preference aggregation which implies both Arrow's Theorem (1963) and the Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem (1973, 1975). This theorem shows that the driving force behind impossibility theorems in preference aggregation is the mutual exclusiveness of...

This paper develops a partial equilibrium model to account for stylized facts about the behavior of oligarchs, politically and economically strong conglomerates in transition and developing countries. The model predicts that oligarchs are more likely than other owners to invest in productivity...