This study explores the manner in which the availability of natural resources wealth, foreign aid or corruption potential constrains institutional improvements. By providing a framework, where rulers, bureaucracy and the citizens act endogenously, we show that the rents from these resources can...

What do we know about the politics of corporate governance in emerging markets? While the state-level institutions have been amply explored, firm-level dynamics remain under-theorized. Complementing the orthodox emphasis on external finance as causal force behind the adoption of “minority...

Economic organization of the imaginary worlds depicted in popular literary works may be viewed as a mirror to public opinion on the economic organization of life. If a book becomes a best-seller, it is because the book conveys messages, feelings, and events the readers can relate to. In other...

Virtuous politicians are considered as ideal public servants. Ironically, social order does not necessarily improve when good politicians replace flawed ones. A corrupt politician (“Godfather”) may arbitrate otherwise violent conflicts for extralegal personal benefits, while maintaining...

Pakistan has suffered from pervasive corruption since its foundation. It deals with an unstable political atmosphere and unsustainable economic development due to its fragile institutional setting. The predominance of military power that does not hesitate to overrule any government when it faces...

How do property rights become secure? How does rule of law take hold in an economy? I use an original survey of 516 firms in Russia and Ukraine, as well as interview-based case studies, to re-examine these fundamental issues of political economy. Most states in the developing world lack the...

Economic organization of the imaginary worlds depicted in popular literary works may be viewed as a mirror to public opinion on the economic organization of life. If a book becomes a best-seller, it is because the book conveys messages, feelings, and events the readers can relate to. In other...

Resumen: en 2009 América Latina vive un proceso electoral agitado: siete elecciones presidenciales, dos referendos y tres elecciones legislativas, así lo evidencian. Sin embargo, son las elecciones presidenciales las que mayor interés despiertan, debido a la ola reeleccionista que agita a la...

When a counter-proposal is made to an initiative to change the Swiss constitution, the citizenry makes three binary majority choices: the initiative versus the status quo, the initiative versus the counter-proposal, and the status quo versus the counterproposal as a tie-breaker. If there is a...