This paper integrates North’s institutional framework with the notion of institutions in the augmented Solow growth model, to clarify the direct and indirect channels by which institutions influence growth. Four ways to extend the Solow model in order to incorporate a rôle for institutions are outlined; and growth regressions are reinterpreted in this light. A detailed typology of empirical ins...

We present a theoretical model of the provision of a durable public good over an in…nite horizion. In each period, there is a societal endowment of which each of  districts owns a share. This endowment can either be invested in the public good or consumed. We characterize the planner’s optimal solution and time path of investment and consumption. We then consider alternative political mechanis...

This paper examines existence of Markov equilibria in a class of dynamic political games (or DPGs). DPGs are infinite horizon games in which political institutions are endogenously determined each period. Specifically, at each date t, a social choice rule determines both the current public policy and the social choice rule to be used in date t + 1. These rules are instrumental choices in the se...

In this paper we take a close look at some of the particular pathways by which majoritarian and consensual institutions affect governability. We demonstrate that the mix of majoritarian and consensual institutions found within a country can influence these pathways quite dramatically, such that they produce rather different consequences for governability, even when these pathways are relatively...

Bernhard and Leblang (1999) argue that since adopting a pegged exchange rate in an era of mobile capital inhibits the use of monetary policy for electoral purposes, elements of domestic political institutions that influence the expected utility of controlling office ought to help determine the choice of exchange rate regime. Clark (2001) argues that since adopting a pegged exchange rate enhance...

This study investigates the effect of participative political institutions (PPIs) that emerged in many central European cities from the late 13th century. The empirical analysis of the paper is based on newly compiled long-run data for the existence of different types of PPIs in 104 cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The effect of both an overall index of participativeness of political institutio...

We are at a historical moment where it becomes urgent to raise the question: What are the possibilities for institutions created for children and young people? The historical process of the institutionalisation of childhood is in a period of intensification, as children enter institutions at ever earlier ages and remain in them for longer periods. This intensification presents great opportuniti...

Social evolution is one of the most rapidly developing areas in evolutionary biology. A main theme is the emergence of cooperation among organisms, including the factors that impede cooperation. Although animal societies seem to have no formal institutions, such as courts or legislatures, we argue that biology presents many examples where an interaction can properly be thought of as an informal...

We present a theoretical model of the provision of a durable public good over an in…nite horizion. In each period, there is a societal endowment of which each of n districts owns a share. This endowment can either be invested in the public good or consumed. We characterize the planner’s optimal solution and time path of investment and consumption. We then consider alternative political mechanis...