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.

About the Initiative

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.

Research Topics

The first research topic of this initiative is exploring the effects of political arrangements on economic performance. The second deals with the effects of societal and economic factors on political arrangements.

Research Results

Read the memos and view the datasets for our most recent research projects.