This paper examines the relationship between political competition and financial development across a global sample of 127 countries, with a particular focus on developed and democratic OECD countries. Building on the theoretical frameworks of Acemoglu and Robinson (2006) and Besley et al....

Introduction -- Chapter 1. A Different Perspective -- Chapter 2. Italian business dynamism -- Chapter 3. Beliefs, values and preferences -- Chapter 4. Re-reading Italian economic events -- Chapter 5. Bumblebees don't exist -- Conclusions.