Federalism is a constitutionalized version of multi-tier governance. Proponents of veto-player theory argue that a high number of veto players leads to a high degree of policy stability. Compared to states with a unitary structure, federal countries, in which at least one sub-central level of...

Abstract Real-time social media data hold great conceptual promise for research and policymaking, but also face substantial limitations and shortcomings inherent to processing re-purposed data in near-real-time. This paper aims to fill two research gaps important for understanding utility of...

This work looks at the impact of electoral rules on female participation in local legislative bodies using a natural experiment involving a series of changes to electoral law in Poland. Using an exogenous population threshold dividing municipalities into ones with proportional and ones with...

By constraining political incentives and discretion, the numerical fiscal rules are among the main institutional (legal) instruments to ensure fiscal discipline. As stated in this paper, in order to be effective, the numerical fiscal rules need to inflict sufficiently high costs for their...

This report demonstrates that the EU Member States vary with regard to store-based retail market integration (openness), measured in terms of economic contribution of foreign retailers to local retailing markets. While a high degree of integration, i.e. large presence and economic impact of...

Polish abstract: Dobre drogi obniżają koszty transportu. Redukując ryzyko nieterminowych dostaw, ułatwiają specjalizację. Pozwalając na wyjście ze sprzedażą poza lokalne rynki, umożliwiają czerpania korzyści z dużej skali produkcji. Dając możliwość szybkiego pokonywania dużych...

There is an abundant empirical literature demonstrating party favoritism whereby the central government is prone to disburse financial transfers to favor aligned local governments. This contrasts with much scarcer evidence on reverse party favoritism, i.e. aligned local governments offering...