We provide an abstract model of the interaction between culture and political institutions.
The model is designed to study the political economy of elites and civil society on the …

In economies with a large informal sector firms can increase profits by reducing workers'
outside options in that informal sector. We formalise this idea in a simple model of an …

We study the relationship between the composition of the political class and the size of
government. First, we use a citizen-candidate model to show that the extension of suffrage is …

This paper develops a conceptual framework and presents three case studies that show
how differences in economic structures are the fundamental cause of differences in …

In this paper we provide an abstract modeling of the interaction between culture and
institutions and their effects on economic variables of interest, notably, eg, long-run …

Emancipation of slaves in the 1830s transformed the political elites of the British Caribbean
plantation islands. New elites were more accountable to the citizenry. We develop a theory …

We model a game between an authority, seeking to implement its state identity, and a
parental generation, seeking to socialize a younger generation into their own identity. The …

Prominent scholars have viewed the Great Reform Act as a concession made by incumbent
elites in order to defuse a revolutionary threat. In this paper, we argue that suffrage reform …

Using a newly created dataset, this article documents the trends in top income shares for
CARICOM member states during the 1960–2015 period. Belize, Suriname, Guyana …

In recent years, it is a real awareness of the island fact that has taken place at the
international level. Initiated by the United Nations (UN), with the Rio declaration, the …