The law and the economy are deeply influenced, in a great part of the world, by either the civil or the common law tradition. These two bundles of institutions emerged in Europe during the medieval period, were spread internationally through colonization and imitation, and operate in different...

Is the United States sufficiently democratic? And does it provide sufficient protection for the thriving markets that have sustained American prosperity? The answers are not obvious because these two values conflict. Many democratic theorists argue that the Constitution is not democratic because...

In a game-theoretical approach of probabilistic voting, we introduce biased beliefs among voters and retrospective voting. In order to micro-found biased beliefs we introduce the psychological concept of mental models. We put into perspective the claim that biased beliefs lead to bad policy...

Does political corruption erode civic values and foster dishonest behaviour? This paper tests this hypothesis – using Mexico as an example – by combining data on local government corruption and cheating in school tests. Results show that, following revelations of corruption by local...

Does political corruption erode civic values and foster dishonest behaviour? I test this hypothesis in the context of Mexico, by combining data on local government corruption and cheating in school tests. I find that, following revelations of corruption by local officials, cheating in cognitive...

Governments perpetually align their policies to satisfy shifts in voters' relative demand for economic growth versus social equality. Following such shifts, increases (decreases) in government interventions lower (raise) both inequality and growth. This pattern is stronger in egalitarian...

The India's most exploited people, the Dalits, have been raising voice against the ongoing process of globalisation fearing that it would gradually lead to a total dismantling of whatever protective and developmental measures, including the reservation policy, guaranteed in their favour in the...

Evidence from a novel measure of democracy (SVMDI) based on Support Vector Machines highlights a robust positive relationship between democracy and economic growth. We argue that the ambiguity in recent studies can be traced back to the neglect of the information in the equation in levels and...

We develop a theory of endogenous regimes transitions (with a focus on democratic consolidation), which emphasizes the role of political culture and of its interaction with political institutions. Political culture reflects the extent of individual commitment across citizens to defend democracy...

There exists a persistent disagreement in the literature over the effect of business cycles on economic growth. This paper offers a solution to this disagreement, suggesting that volatility carries a positive direct effect, but also a negative indirect effect, operating through the insurance...