In a recent study, the authors reveal with structural equation models that the positive effect of information technology on generalized trust is mediated by political institutions. Although insightful, a key question remains: Is it the effectiveness and efficiency, the universality, and/or the power-sharing capacity of the state that mediates this effect? Drawing on new institutional economics,...

Research on growing American political polarization and antipathy often studies effects on public institutions and political processes. Less attention has been paid to civil institutions like close familial ties. Using smartphone-tracking data and national precinct electoral results, we show time spent at Thanksgiving dinner fell by 20-30 minutes within politically divided families following th...

Although social institutions permeate the world in which we live, they are all but absent from our analyses of economic growth and development. This paper argues the need to mitigate this omission by demonstrating the importance of social institutions for growth and development while focusing on institutions providing social safety nets. Social institutions and policies render individual behavi...

Sociologists mostly treat age-at-arrival as a dichotomous variable whereas economists often approach it as a continuous variable. This article extends this debate by addressing a set of political behaviours that has mostly been the purview of political scientists. Analysing restricted, geocoded data from the National Survey of Latinos on Politics and Civic Participation, this article examines h...