The importance of ownership structure is analyzed in a simple voting framework. The model contains a market failure arising from the market not internalizing the total surplus from trade and a political failure arising from the government catering to the interests of the median voter. In a...

Inefficiencies in the bureaucratic organization of the state are often viewed as important factors in retarding economic development. Why certain societies choose or end up with such inefficient organizations has received very little attention, however. In this paper, we present a simple theory...

The determinants of incentive regulation are a key issue in industrial policy. I study an asymmetric information model of incentive rules selection by a political principal endowed with an information-gathering technology whose efficiency increases with the effort exerted by two accountable...

This paper analyses the consequences of the planned enlargement on the EU budget for the years 2007 and 2013. It concentrates on the EU's Common Agricultural Policy and Structural Policy and calculates the possible fiscal consequences of enlarging the EU for various policy scenarios. Enlarging...

This paper analyzes the effect on GDP growth of income (GDP per capita) and economic regulation. A simple theoretical framework presents two opposing views. We analyze the empirical relation using a non-linear dynamic panel data model with fixed effects. The result shows that the effect of...

Abstract: The 1991 Colombian constitution strengthened the checks and balances of the political system by enhancing the role of Congress and the Constitutional Court, while somewhat limiting the powers of the president (who nonetheless remains extremely powerful even for Latin American...

We consider the place of cities, particularly large cities, in Canadian federalism from several perspectives. Although by most measures the current fiscal condition of Canadian cities seems fairly good, we argue that beneath this happy picture lies a less happy reality. Owing to the limited and...

Consider a group of isolated or autarkic regions. If the regions from a federation, on expects to see greater efficiency in production at the cost of reduced local control over the distribution of consumption. Under what circumstances is this tradoff even potentially beneficial to all regions?

This paper adresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures and union democracy and argues that women's structural progress is mediated by an enduring patriarchal oligarchy and an associated struggle to access power resources.

There is a significant controversy among academics and policy-makers about whether policies matter for economic growth. Recently, Acemoglu et al. (2003) and Easterly (2004) have presented empirical evidence against the commonly held view that policies play an important role in the process of...