Reforms often occur in waves, seemingly cascading from country to country. We argue that such reform waves may be … driven by informational spillovers: uncertainty about the outcome of reform is reduced by learning from the experience of …

This dissertation contributes to the emerging literature on endogenous political institutions and the causal … relationship between institutions and the political and economic environment. For the purpose, all chapters rely on electoral …

This paper examines the effect of trade integration and comparative advantage on one of a country's institutions, which … in turn inuences its economic efficiency. The environment we explore is one in which a country's lower classes may revolt … economic efficiency. Trade integration alters the relative value of the elite's wealth. This alters the lower classes …

contributions. One is to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between political institutions and economic efficiency …