This paper studies empirically the relationship between oil endowment and the duration of autocratic leaders. A simple theoretical setting shows how the relationship between oil endowment and the duration of the dictatorial regime is mediated by the price of oil. Using a dataset on 106...

This paper develops a simple model that analyses the relationship between a country's oil endowment and the duration of its autocratic leader. The dictator uses the rents from oil extraction for both personal gain and to pay-off potential opposition and chooses an optimal level of oil...

The purpose of this study is to broaden the discussion on corporate enviromental risk exposure by integrating an oil scarcity factor. This broader approach can be utilized as a means of instigating a discussion on carbon risks beyond output oriented adaption and mitigation strategies. Even...

Research suggests that a donor country s decision to provide post-disaster assistance is not only driven by the severity of a disaster and the resulting humanitarian needs in the recipient country, but also by strategic considerations. The authors argue that the identification of the...

We investigate the prevalence and determinants of ethnic favoritism, i.e., preferential public policies targeted at the political leader's ethnic group. We construct a panel dataset of 2,022 ethnographic regions from 139 countries with annual observations from 1992 to 2012, and use nighttime...

Civil society plays a crucial role in governance where laws and authority are weak. Increasingly, multinationals operate in these complex environments. We study how a key strategy of international civil society--disseminating information about human rights abuse--impacts multinationals. To do...

This paper studies how media and the quality of institutions aff ect government action taken before and after a natural disaster. The key elements in this relationship are the media's role as the provider of information to voters about government action, the quality of democracy that pertains to...