Economic analysis of law is a powerful analytical methodology. At the same time, as a purely consequentialist approach, which determines the desirability of acts and rules solely by assessing the goodness of their outcomes, standard cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is normatively objectionable. This...

Economic analysis of law is a powerful analytical methodology. However, as a purely consequentialist approach, which determines the desirability of acts and rules solely by assessing the goodness of their outcomes, standard cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is normatively objectionable. Thus, for...

This paper argues that openness to goods trade in combination with an unequal distribution of political power has been a major determinant of the comparatively slow development of resource- or land-abundant regions like South America and the Caribbean in the nineteenth century. We develop a...

We build a political economy model of state policy choice highlighting the challenges to breaking barriers to the adoption of inclusive policies in Africa. We highlight necessary and sufficient conditions for a political leader to gain from implementing exclusive policies: (i) Implementing...

The massive spending programs and new regulations adopted by many countries around the world in response to the economic crisis of 2008 have drawn renewed attention to the role of government in the economy. Studies of the relationship between government size and economic growth have come up with...

Governments, especially in developing countries, routinely provide large-scale public employment programs. This paper studies such programs and their impact on unemployment rates, capital accumulation, and the process of development. An overlapping generations model with production is studied...

Much work has acknowledged partisan differences in distributive benefits. Few works, however, have empirically examined the role party building activities play in these distributions. Through Exchange Theory, we hypothesize that legislators are rewarded with distributive benefits for promoting...

Empirical work suggests the presence of a public sector wage premium. This paper investigates the theoretical reasons for the presence of a such a premium. The results of the paper are consistent with the higher premium paid to women and with the fact that the premium decreases with skills. The...

Since the Lisbon Agenda (2000), the European Union policies are increasingly oriented towards innovation as attested to by the deep change of the new Regional Policy. This paper proposes an analysis of an innovation subsidy policy in an agglomeration and growth model à la Martin and Ottaviano...