This paper analyzes the influence of financial integration on institutional quality. We construct a dynamic political-economic model of an autocracy in which a ruling elite uses its political power to expropriate the general population. Although financial integration reduces capital costs for...

In this paper we offer an explanation why a poor majority does not necessarily expropriate a rich minority. We present a dynamic model in which individuals are willing to accept an unequal distribution of income in the current period if they are sufficiently optimistic about their future...