We examine the effect of regional favoritism on firms’ access to credit. Using firm-level data on a large sample of 29,000 firms covering 48 countries, we investigate the hypothesis that access to credit of firms is higher in the birth regions of national political leaders. We find evidence...

Nauro Campos (University College London) will present his research co-authored with Fabrizio Coricelli (University of Siena, Paris School of Economics and CEPR) and Marco Frigerio (University of Siena) entitled The Political U: New Evidence on Democracy and Income. Jarko Fidrmuc (Zeppelin...

We investigate whether the occurrence of elections affect access to credit for firms. We perform an investigation using firm-level data covering 44 developed and developing countries. We find that elections have a detrimental influence on access to credit: firms are more credit-constrained in...

The literature on institutions and development has often cast societies in a light that contrasts the more inclusive, open-access, and equal ones with other less inclusive ones, but the scholarship comparing Imperial China and Premodern Europe does not fit easily in this framework. We provide a...

We welcome economic or econometric contributions on the following and related issues: - National safety as a public good - Strategic behavior and credible commitments (initiated by Thomas Schelling) - The theory of conflicts (initiated by Gordon Tullock, Jack Hirshleifer and Kai Konrad) - Theory...

Behavioural political economy uses behavioural concepts in explaining decisions of politicians, candidates for political office, voters, lobbyists, and others in the political and policymaking arena. Decision-makers may be subject to bounded rationality. Utility maximisation may be based on...