Ethnic religious organizations are often blamed for slowing down immigrants' assimilation in host societies. This paper offers the first systematic evidence on this topic by focusing on Italian Catholic churches in the US between 1890 and 1920, when four million Italians had moved to America,...

The paper explores a phenomenon often observed in transition economies, when newly established institutions are misused, i.e., applied or resorted to for reasons which have little in common with their intended or anticipated purpose. In such incidences institutions become sources of private...

Collective lobbying organizations and some big companies showed up as cautious partners in the design of the Affordable Care Act. In addition of being consulted by executives, they intensively lobbied legislators. The qualitative and statistical analysis I conduct here shows a positive impact of...

This paper empirically evaluates the impact of accountability on fiscal capacity. It adopts an instrumental variable approach using, as an instrument, the measurement of how far, on average, official language differs from ordinary language. The main hypothesis is that if the average citizen...

How can labour market institutions make workers confident about their economic future? While quantitative studies have repeatedly shown that countries' labour market regulations and policies are related to variations in workers' perceived job security, these studies did not explain how these...

The FDA is responsible for the approval of new drugs, biological products and medical devices in the United States. As part of the approval process, the FDA relies on advisory committees, which provide independent advice from outside experts. We combine a structural approach with newly collected...

This study reviews and evaluates the intertwined relationship between immigration and religiosity, focusing on the two sides of the Atlantic - Europe and the United States. Based on the existing literature and on a statistical analysis of several data sets (the International Social Survey...

The April 21, 2005 issue of the LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS carried a lead article titled ‘Blood for Oil?’ The paper is attributed to a group of writers and activists – Iain Boal, T.J. Clark, Joseph Matthews and Michael Watts – who identify themselves by the collective name ‘Retort.’ In...

This study reviews and evaluates the intertwined relationship between immigration and religiosity, focusing on the two sides of the Atlantic – Europe and the United States. Based on the existing literature and on a statistical analysis of several data sets (the International Social Survey...