Minority-protection laws often present variations in the level of protection over time. We show how these changes may be the result of the dynamic interaction between strong and weak social groups. We assume that interaction occurs in a democratic environment, where representative institutions...

Minority-protection laws often differ over time and across societies. We show how the dynamic interaction between strong and weak social groups may account for these differences and their evolution. We assume that interaction occurs in a democratic environment, where representative institutions...

This chapter surveys the theoretical literature on statistical discrimination and affirmative action. This literature suggests different explanations for the existence and persistence of group inequality. This survey highlights such differences and describes in these contexts the effects of...

We build a model of secession crises where voters may wish to accommodate the minority to prevent secession. We show the existence of a majority voting equilibrium with a government's type biased in favor of the minority. We propose a measure of secession risk and perform the comparative static...

This chapter surveys the theoretical literature on statistical discrimination and affirmative action. This literature suggests different explanations for the existence and persistence of group inequality. This survey highlights such differences and describes in these contexts the effects of...

Minorities, such as ethnic and immigration groups, have often been subject to exclusion through labor market discrimination, residential and employment segregation policies, business ownership regulations, restrictions on political participation, access to public services and more. This paper...

In this work we set out to examine how the effective separation of powers in a political system, secures increased accountability and reduces the incentives of agents to try to corrupt officials. We summarize the main results of the existing literature that examines both these relationships and...

We analyze various normatively determined distributions of language rights in multilingual settings. A general model for the analysis of language rights over time in a model with overlapping generations is set up. This model is then first used to find efficient allocations of rights in the...

In a stark contrast with the dominant minority-protection literature in the EU this paper proposes a synergetic approach to minority protection in the Union, acknowledging that attempts to draw clear distinctions between different minority groups on the basis of a number of criteria can be...