Ever since Goldin (1995) proposed the idea that there is a U-shaped female labor force participation rate function in economic development, empirical research is stunned by the question why the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are characterized by such low rates of female...

This short article contributes to the Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice by summarizing the literature on the measurement of democracy. I proceed in two step. In the first part, I describe the classical approach for producing a measure of democracy and sketch an alternative approach. The second...

This paper reviews the progress that has been made over the past decade in understanding the nature of the various multilateral in- ternational comparison methods. Fifteen methods are discussed and subjected to a system of ten tests. In addition, attention is paid to recently developed methods...