A large and growing body of scholarship documents the effects of regime type on economic growth and other indicators of economic performance. This program builds on that work to probe more deeply into what aspects of democracy (or autocracy), law, and social arrangements matter, by what mechanisms.
In the weakly institutionalized democracies that constitute, in fact, the majority of the world’s democracies, dynamics of political competition often skew towards private exchanges between politicians and groups of supporters (clientelism).
An aim of this project is also, then, to understand the dynamics behind better and worse forms of democratic institutions from the standpoint of long-term growth and prosperity, and the demographic, technological, and political forces that push governments towards good and bad forms.
Principal investigator
Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs
Shaprio has written widely and influentially on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry. A native of South Africa, he received his J.D. from the Yale Law School and his Ph.D from the Yale Political Science Department where he has taught since 1984 and served as chair from 1999 to 2004.
Affiliated faculty
William N. Goetzmann, Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management
Faculty director of the International Center for Finance and director of the Yale School of Management Executive MBA in Asset Management, Goetzmann is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and has served as the president of the Western Finance Association and the European Finance Association. He is an expert on financial markets and securities, investment strategies, investor behavior and financial history.
Geert Rouwenhorst, Robert B. & Candice J. Haas Professor of Corporate Finance
Deputy Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management, Rouwenhorst specializes in empirical finance and asset pricing. His research interests include risk and return in international equity markets, commodity investments, and the history of financial innovation.
Post-doctoral fellow
Fernando Bizzarro
Bizzarro is a political scientist whose research in comparative politics and political economy explores the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy and political parties, with a substantive focus on Latin America. He is currently working on a book project that studies the interplay between economic inequality and political personalism in Brazil. At the Jackson School, he will collaborate with the Leitner Program’s agenda of studying how strong political parties and governments make democracy work and promote inclusive economic growth.