The word “Qian rule” (hidden rule) has been known to all Chinese people since the publication of Wu Si's Qian Rule. This paper proposes that the Qian rule, in the economic sense, is the transaction of discretion between the buyer and the rule agent. The meticulousness of the formal rule and...

Conventional wisdom in new institutional economics suggests that property rights become more secure following sovereign commitment. The article tests this axiom in the crucial case of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. I show that despite the wide-ranging constraints imposed after the...

Political mobilization of business forces in the post-communist world has crucial implications for economic development and civil society. The emergence of strong cross-sectoral business associations during Putin's presidency challenges the prevailing view of Russia's political economy as an...

Economic growth in the twenty-first century offers the possibility to eliminate extreme poverty in the world. This article argues that such a wonderful achievement would not contradict the vision of Deuteronomy 15:11 because the verse should be understood as referring to relative poverty, which,...

This paper explores the institutional and human-nature determinants of financial investment behavior across households from 25 European countries by employing the seventh wave of the SHARE-ERIC survey. We find that households' investment behavior in shares or stocks is strongly associated with...

We are witnessing the formation of a new paradigm that will dominate the socio-economic policy of the foreseeable future. This could be seen in 2019, but in 2020 led to a sharp acceleration of transformation processes. With all the differences of individual countries and regions, one can see...

This article contextualizes the rise of cryptocurrency within the historical relationship between money and the state. It begins by asking two simple yet critical questions: What is money and where did it come from? Armed with the answers, the article proceeds by taking a fresh look at...

Economics as a social science is about exchange and the institutions within which exchange relationships are formed and transactions are executed. Yoram Barzel's contribution to economics and political economy reflect this focus on exchange and institutions. In this paper, I will sketch a theory...

This study looks at firms' investment spending in fixed and intangible assets around three types of national elections: presidential, joint presidential, and legislative and parliamentary elections. Investments in fixed assets decline by up to 2% during presidential elections, and 4.44% in joint...

The paper investigates how high levels of political risk in a host market's institutional context influences MNE subsidiaries' corporate political activity (CPA) strategy. Existing studies have found that subsidiaries facing high-risk contexts prefer a non-engaged approach to CPA, by exercising...