In an important and much cited study, Pettersson-Lidbom (2008) identifies significant left-wing majority coalition effects on economic outcomes for Swedish local governments, 1974-1994. We first replicate the original study and then extend the original research by applying Pettersson-Lidbom's...

Hierarchies are common in political settings. From judges to elected politicians, as well as from activists to bureaucrats, political agents compete for promotion to higher positions. This paper studies political tournaments and their impact on two aspects of political performance:...

The study aims to investigate the direct effect of globalization on financial inclusion in SSA and examine the role of the political regime between globalization and financial inclusion.The methodology involves the following steps: Compute a financial inclusion index; Disentangle globalization...

During the First Industrial Revolution, industrialization led to incompatibilities between the economic sphere and a political sphere based on rule by monarchs and land-owning nobles. These incompatibilities led to poor economic outcomes for workers and, ultimately, to deep changes in the...

This paper offers a framework for understanding the origin of market-preserving government. The paper shows that when parties in a Hobbesian society end in an arms race rather than war, they can create a market-preserving government to maintain the no-war equilibrium at lower cost. The...

The effectiveness of environmental policies has been extensively studied, often focusing solely on environmental degradation indicators. However, successful environmental policies have broader societal impacts. This study addresses this limitation by utilizing the Sustainable Governance...

During recent crises in Europe, new heterogeneous protest movements have emerged that are difficult to label and classify. Existing studies suggest that the common denominator of these protesters is primarily the lack of political trust. Therefore, these new protest movements offer favorable...

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for the political settlement and dynamics of social contract relations in Tanzania. The political settlement approach is employed within a theoretical framework that has been developed and applied to analyse political...

We provide the first global, long-run evidence on how war reshapes democratic institutions. Using data on all conflicts since 1948, we show that the onset of conflict causes a large and persistent decline in democracy: institutions weaken immediately, continue to erode for nearly a decade, and...

We provide new evidence on the causal effect of higher education on mortality. Our empirical strategy exploits the reduction in college openings introduced by the Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup in Chile, which led to a sharp downward kink in college enrollment among those cohorts reaching...

We develop a model of elections in which parties choose their ideological position and the ideology of their candidates. Tighter candidate selection reduces policy uncertainty for voters. We show that weak institutional constraints, as in a Presidential regime, induce parties to allow their...

What is the long-term effect of theocracy on religiosity and pro-religious political preferences? I exploit a quasi-experiment in Italy, where a large river constituted the border between the theocratic Papal States and a secular, progressive state for three centuries. However, inheritance norms...

This paper's object is to dissect the political system in Bangladesh and the prospects and challenges for popular connection. Since 1971, after Bangladesh's independence, it has faced a different socio-political geography and endured different shifts in its political system. The country has made...

Based on current literature, this paper analyses the nature and effects of external pressure imposed on authoritarian regimes. Around three-quarters of all countries under United Nations, United States, and European Union sanctions are authoritarian, and “democracy sanctions” that aim at...

We study how a fragmented political landscape affects fiscal policy and economic growth with a sample of 15 Indian States over the period 1980-2000. We measure state-level political fragmentation with an inverse Herfindahl index for party vote shares in the state legislature. Our results show...

„Das Politische System Österreichs“ versteht sich als Lehrbuch, das aktuelles Basiswissen und Forschungseinblicke zu politischen Strukturen und Prozessen in Österreich vermitteln will. In fünf Bereichen stellen namhafte Autor:innen die wesentlichen Fakten, Daten und Zahlen vor:...

In times of crises, democracies face the challenge of balancing effective interventions with civil liberties. This study examines German states' response during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the interplay between civil liberties and public health goals. Using state-level...

We provide new evidence on the causal effect of higher education on mortality. Our empirical strategy exploits the reduction in college openings introduced by the Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup in Chile, which led to a sharp downward kink in college enrollment among those cohorts reaching...

Are ministers of finance more likely to keep their job if the economy is doing well? We argue that the answer depends on the regime type. Democratic leaders have incentives to retain high performing ministers of finance since they can help them win elections. The incentive structure is less...

This paper discusses the historical and social origins of the bifurcation in the political institutions of China and Western Europe. An important factor, recognized in the literature, is that China centralized state institutions very early on, while Europe remained politically fragmented for...