Currently the strategy for promoting internal peace favoured by the international community is to promote democracy, the rationale being that democratic accountability lowers incentives for rebellion. We argue that democracy also constrains the technical possibilities of government repression,...

This paper studies a simple model of the talent-ownership mismatch-or failure of meritocracy-brought about by credit market imperfections that prevent the transfer of control over productive assets from the untalented rich to the talented poor. We present two main insights. First, there may be...