While standard political economy theories suggest a moderating effect of democratization on income inequality, empirical literature has failed to incover any such robust relationship. Here we take yet another look at this issue arguing first, that prevailing ideology may be an important...

The relationship between the distribution of political rights and that of economic resources has been studied both theoretically and empirically. This paper reviews the exsisting literature and, in particular, the available empirical evidence. Our reading of the literature suggests that formal...

This paper analyzes the influence of the shadow economy on corruption and vice versa. We hypothesize that corruption and shadow economy are substitutes in high income countries while they are complements in low income countries. The hypotheses are tested for a cross-section of 120 countries and...

According to the disciplining hypothesis, globalization restrains governments by inducing increased budgetary pressure. As a consequence, governments shift their expenditures in favour of transfers and subsidies and away from capital expenditures. This expenditure shift is potentially enhanced...

This paper offers an explanation for the widespread phenomenon of uniform public schooling, which is viewed here as a way for the government to precommit itself to restraints on future income redistribution. Such precommitment is likely to enhance accumulation of human capital, to bolster...