People's trust in state and political institutions is a key foundation of a well-functioning economy. We estimate the impact of direct elections on people's trust in state and political institutions, using a major political reform in Indonesia as the source of exogenous variation. Prior to 2005,...

While there is evidence of gender differences in leaders' behavior, less is known about what drives these gaps. This paper uncovers the role of electoral incentives. Using a close election regression discontinuity design in Brazil, we first show that female mayors handled the COVID-19 crisis...

This article argues that political micro-targeting impacts the fundamental right of thenon-targeted citizens to receive information, and consequently, the democratic public discourse. The right to information is the passive side of freedom of expression, among other protected by Article 10 of...

The study contributes to the political economy debate in Africa by examining the extent to which economic development mediates the effect of elections on government expenditure. To this end, the study employs macrodata spanning 1985-2015 on 43 African countries for the analysis. Robust evidence...