This article investigates the political cost of poverty in democracies marked by deep social divisions. We develop a probabilistic voting model that incorporates clientelism as a strategic tool employed by elite political parties to secure electoral support from non-elite voters. Unlike models...

Businesspeople are expected to invest in political connections when the institutions are weak. Using an original dataset from Russia in 2003-2010, we document changes in political connections of the richest businesspeople and show that within the institutional environment of a fledgling...

Personal relationships have historically been a significant influence in Thai culture, extending into national politics. Ties between members of the Senate and the House of Representatives through various networks are good examples of this observation. Academic research has suggested that such...

This article examines how corruption operates as a gendered informal institution that restricts women’s substantive political empowerment in post-socialist democracies. Focusing on North Macedonia, we argue that clientelism and male-dominated party networks function as gatekeeping mechanisms...

This study examines nepotism's direct and indirect effects on family firms, considering several critical factors mediating individual and organizational aspects. Specifically, on a sample of 387 family firms in the Middle East region, we investigate the mediating role of commitment, engagement...

This research aims to enlighten current and future research trends on political connections by providing complete bibliometric mapping through network studies on political connections. Utilizing Biblioshiny, the Bibliometrics R package, multi-perspective research publications on political...

This article explores the practice of "instructed voting" prevalent among rural Indigenous communities in Bolivia, referring to the taking of collective electoral decisions. It adds to the debate on clientelistic bloc voting by revealing voters' motives for participating in clientelistic deals,...

Using rural household survey data from West Bengal, we find that voters respond positively to excludable government welfare benefits but not to local public good programs, while reporting having benefited from both. Consistent with these voting patterns, shocks to electoral competition induced...

The relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance represents a critical facet of corporate governance, warranting comprehensive investigation. By analyzing data from 1151 non-financial firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange over the period from 2018 to 2022, the authors...

Amid Lebanon's multifaceted economic crisis, this paper explores the intricate dynamics between political patronage networks and financial stability. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of New Institutional Economics (NIE) and Project Management (PM), the study delves into how entrenched...

We use a new machine learning-enabled, social network based measurement technique to assemble a novel dataset of firms' political connections in India. Leveraging this data along with a long panel of detailed financial transactions of firms, we study how political connections matter during an...

Using a hand-coded dataset tracking the backgrounds of U.S. governors between 1993 and 2021, we argue that officeholders with military experience are less likely to engage in political cronyism. Military governors are less likely to increase subsidies to corporations when they become “lame...

The interdependence of the State and business is widely recognised across many disciplines and frameworks. This paper examines the State-capital nexus in India during the neoliberal era, focusing on how the State has facilitated accelerated primitive accumulation for large capital by selectively...

Outsourcing public services to private providers is heralded for increasing government efficiency. Yet, outsourcing also offers opportunities to circumvent employment regulations in the public sector. The praised flexibility that private contractors have to hire employees can also be used to...

This paper provides a perspective on the political economy of crony capitalism and corruption in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Syria, and Yemen, severely affected by the Arap Spring, to propose that they triggered the uprisings. The crony capitalism in Egypt shows military dominance and its...

This paper examines the model of party patronage in Serbia and its impact on the professionalisation of public administration. Drawing on case studies of the appointment and subsequent performance of heads of three prominent public organisations – the National Bank of Serbia, the...