In existing models of direct democratic institutions, the median voter benefits, but representative politicians are harmed since their policy choices can be overridden. This is a puzzle, since representative politicians were instrumental in creating these institutions. I build a model of direct...

All rulers face political competition, both from rivals within their state, and from other states to which their subjects may exit. In a simple model, both kinds of competition are substitutes. Internal competition (democracy) benefits citizens by allowing them to replace rent-seeking rulers....

In existing models of direct democratic institutions, the median voter benefits, but representative politicians are harmed since their policy choices can be overridden. This is a puzzle, since representative politicians were instrumental in creating these institutions. I build a model of direct...

Voters in democracies can learn from the experience of neighbouring states: about policy in a direct democracy ("policy experimentation"), about the quality of their politicians in a representative democracy ("yardstick competition"). Learning between states creates spillovers from policy...

In an online survey, the honesty of residents of eight countries was measured in three ways: by the standard coin flip experimental paradigm, by a new experiment designed to resemble a test with the possibility of cheating, and by a questionnaire of integrity. While the coin flip paradigm...

In experiments, people behave more cooperatively when they are aware of an external threat, while in the field, we observe surprisingly high levels of within - group cooperation in conflict situations such as civil wars. We provide an explanation for these phenomena. We introduce a model in...

Human societies of all kinds solve a problem of order. That is what differentiates them from sets of isolated individuals. The problem may be solved in various ways: in particular, some societies possess a state which provides order, while others are stateless. However, the existence of a state...