| 1. |
- Ahlerup, Pelle, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Regional development and national identity in sub-Saharan Africa
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 45:3, s. 622-643
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2016 Association for Comparative Economic Studies. We study how regional development affects identification with the nation state using a sample of 192 African regions in 16 countries. We measure national identification with survey data from the fourth wave of the Afrobarometer and proxy regional development with night lights data. To account for the endogeneity of regional development, we employ an instrumental variables approach and use a proxy for mineral resource wealth as our main instrument. Our results show that inhabitants of more prosperous regions are more likely to identify with their nation rather than their ethnic group. Regarding transmission channels, we find suggestive evidence consistent with the interpretation that national identification is higher in richer regions because of different cultural beliefs and a lower reliance on traditional ethnic networks. Overall, our research implies that African governments can foster national identification by ensuring that all parts of a country participate equitably in economic development.
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| 2. |
- Andersen, Thomas Barnebeck, et al.
(författare)
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Preaching democracy : The second Vatican council and the third wave
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 47:3, s. 525-540
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We use variation in religious doctrine produced by the unexpected Second Vatican Council (1962–65) to investigate the impact of religion on democratization. The Council, which transformed the Catholic Church from defender of the ancien régime into a leading apostle of religious freedom, human rights and democracy, represents the most significant example of institutionalized religious change since the Protestant Reformation. We adopt a difference-in-difference approach to estimate the Council's impact on democracy. Furthermore, we provide historical narratives on how the post-conciliar Catholic Church influenced the democratization process in different national contexts. Our research substantiates that the Church played a decisive role in third wave democratization.
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| 3. |
- Andrén, Daniela, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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The wage effects of schooling under socialism and in transition : Evidence from Romania, 1950-2000
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 33:2, s. 300-323
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We estimate the impact of schooling on monthly earnings from 1950 to 2000 in Romania. Nearly constant at about 3-4 percent during the socialist period, the coefficient on schooling in a conventional earnings regression rises steadily during the 1990s, reaching 8.5 percent by 2000. Our analysis finds little evidence for either the standard explanations of such an increase in the West (labor supply movements, product demand shifts, technical change) or the transition-specific accounts sometimes offered (wage liberalization, border opening, increased quality of education). But we find some support for institutional and organizational explanations, particularly the high productivity of education in restructuring and entrepreneurial activities in a disequilibrium environment.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Berggren, Niclas, et al.
(författare)
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Immigrants from more tolerant cultures integrate deeper into destination countries
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - 0147-5967. ; 51:4, s. 1095-1108
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We highlight a new factor behind integration: tolerance in the immigrants’ background culture. We hypothesize that it is easier to partake of economic, civic-political and social life in a new country for a person stemming from a culture that embodies tolerance towards people who are different. We test this by applying the epidemiological method, using a tolerance index based on two indicators from the World Values Survey – the share that thinks it important to teach children tolerance and the share that considers homosexuality justified – as our main independent variable. Our outcomes are indices of individual-level economic, civic-political and cultural integration outcomes for immigrants of the second generation with data from the European Social Survey. The results indicate that tolerance in the background culture is a robust predictor of integration among children of immigrants in European societies.
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| 6. |
- Bergh, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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A sticky trait : Social trust among Swedish expatriates in countries with varying institutional quality
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 46:4, s. 1146-1157
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social trust is linked to many desirable economic and social outcomes. Using new data from a representative sample of 2668 Swedish expatriates, we examine the robustness of high social trust in countries with different levels of institutional quality. The results suggest that individual trust decreases with length of stay in countries with high corruption and low rule of law. The effect is relatively small and driven by expatriates who were aged 30 years or below upon arrival to the new country. While other studies have found that trust among migrants adapts to destination country trust levels, we find that after the (approximate) age of 30, high trust is a sticky personality trait. The results are robust to controlling for a large array of individual characteristics (including age) and support the view that social trust is sensitive to events that occur early in life.
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| 7. |
- Burkart, Mike, et al.
(författare)
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Club-in-the-club: Reform under unanimity
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1095-7227 .- 0147-5967. ; 40:3, s. 492-507
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many organizations, decisions are taken by unanimity giving each member veto power. We analyze a model of an organization in which members with heterogenous productivity privately contribute to a common good. Under unanimity, the least efficient member imposes her preferred effort choice on the entire organization. The threat of forming an “inner organization” can undermine the veto power of the less efficient members and coerce them to exert more effort. We also identify the conditions under which the threat of forming an inner organization is executed. Finally, we show that majority rules effectively prevent the emergence of inner organizations.
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| 8. |
- Charron, Nicholas, et al.
(författare)
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No Law without a State
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967. ; 40:2, s. 176-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- What explains cross-country differences in the quality of institutions, such as judicial independence and government regulations of economic life, and in desirable social and economic outcomes, such as a low degree of corruption and high degree of rule of law? In some of the most widely cited publications in the field of economics and political science, scholars have claimed that such cross-country variation is explained by a country’s legal origin (common law or civil law tradition). It is claimed that because of stronger legal protection for outside investors and less state intervention, common law countries have achieved higher levels of economy prosperity and social life than civil law countries. To a large extent, this hypothesis has been corroborated by much empirical evidence. This paper proposes an alternative interpretation of the cross-country differences observed. Building on scholarly studies of state formation developments, the basic proposition of this paper is that the state formation process affects the character of the state infrastructure to be either patrimonial or bureaucratic, which in turn affects institutions and social outcomes. We argue that this fundamental distinction of state formation precedes the legal origins of a country and thus offers superior explanatory power. This argument is tested empirically on a set of 31 OECD countries. It is shown that the state infrastructure is indeed more influential than the legal traditions on a set of institutional variables (formalism, judicial independence, regulation of entry and case law) as well as on a set of social outcomes (corruption, rule of law, and property rights).
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| 9. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Do island states have better institutions?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 42:1, s. 34-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the end of World War II, the number of countries in the world has increased dramatically. Many of these newly independent countries are small both in terms of population and geography, and several are islands. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of island status and country size on institutional quality, and to determine if these institutional effects can explain the relatively strong economic performance of islands and small countries. I distinguish between political institutions (Democracy) and economic institutions (Rule of Law). One of the main findings of this paper is that the relationship between island status and institutional quality is significantly positive, and that these results are robust to the inclusion of a number of control variables. Further, I find that country size is negatively related to institutional quality, which is in keeping with previous results. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that institutions account for these countries' relatively better economic performance. © 2013 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.
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| 10. |
- Dalgaard, C. J., et al.
(författare)
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Roman roads to prosperity: Persistence and non-persistence of public infrastructure
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967. ; 50:4, s. 896-916
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we explore the link between public transport infrastructure investments made during antiquity and the presence of infrastructure today; as well as the link between early infrastructure and economic activity, both in the past and in the present. We examine the territory under dominion of the Roman Empire at the zenith of its geographical extension (117 CE), and find a remarkable pattern of persistence showing that greater Roman road density goes along with (a) greater modern road density, (b) greater settlement formation in 500 CE, and (c) greater economic activity in 2010–2020. Exploiting a natural experiment, we find that persistence in road density and the strong link between early road density and contemporary economic development weaken to the point of insignificance in areas where the use of wheeled vehicles was abandoned and caravan trade routes replaced road-based trade from the first millennium CE until the late modern period. Studying channels of persistence, we identify the emergence of market towns during the early medieval period and the modern era as a robust mechanism sustaining the persistent effects of the Roman roads network. Our results contribute to a deeper understanding of the channels through which persistence in comparative development comes about.
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| 11. |
- Engist, Oliver, et al.
(författare)
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Conservative Talk Radio and political persuasion in the US,1950–1970
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - 1095-7227 .- 0147-5967. ; 52:1, s. 166-182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Conservative Talk Radio continues to shape US politics in the 21st century, but it has a deeper history. Using newly digitized archival records, we provide new evidence on the electoral effects of Conservative Talk Radio in the historically consequential period from 1950 to 1970. Conservative radio hosts like Clarence Manion, Billy James Hargis, and Carl McIntire rapidly expanded their network during the early 1960s before the Kennedy administration took regulatory steps to dismantle their business model. We find that in counties where these shows aired on local stations, the Republican vote share increased following their introduction. Anticipatory effects are small and insignificant, which supports a causal interpretation of this effect.
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| 12. |
- Feng, Xunan, et al.
(författare)
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Political participation and entrepreneurial initial public offerings in China
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967. ; 42:2, s. 269-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines the economic consequences of political participation by entrepreneurs in China. Using unique data on political participation and initial public offerings by entrepreneurial firms, we find that firms controlled by entrepreneurs who participate in politics exhibit superior post-IPO performance. We also find that firms characterized by political participation are subject to less underpricing. Furthermore, the superior performance is concentrated among firms that operate in an environment characterized by rich rent-seeking opportunities instead of abundant business opportunities, suggesting that political participation is facilitating rent seeking rather than serving simply as a proxy for political recognition for entrepreneurship. © 2014 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.
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| 13. |
- Kemmerling, Achim, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative political economy of regional transport infrastructure investment in Europe
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 43:1, s. 227-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We study the role of political institutions in the regional allocation of public infrastructure investments in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. We estimate the regional variation in the allocation for each country, controlling for the potential endogeneity of its impact on growth and distribution. We compare the importance of political institutions, federalism and the electoral system, with the normative criteria, efficiency, redistribution and equality. We find that on the macro-level there is some evidence that different national institutions do indeed shape political competition, but that partisan politics and, in particular, normative principles are overall more influential across all types of political systems.
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| 14. |
- Kilström, Matilda, et al.
(författare)
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Risk-sharing and entrepreneurship
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1095-7227 .- 0147-5967. ; 52:1, s. 341-360
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines the impact of risk-sharing on entrepreneurship-driven innovation in an occupational choice model, where entrepreneurs exert effort to innovate. Risk-sharing may increase the number of individuals who become entrepreneurs by limiting the downside risk. The effort of entrepreneurs may, however, be hampered by high risk-sharing if this limits the returns faced by successful entrepreneurs relative to unsuccessful entrepreneurs. We construct a simple theoretical model where risk-sharing may be either private or provided through the welfare state by means of taxation. We show that, in addition to the occupational and effort choice dimensions, the level of public risk-sharing also matters for the characteristics of entrepreneurs. © 2023 The Author(s) Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Institutions; Risk-sharing
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Santos Silva, M., et al.
(författare)
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The roots of female emancipation: Initializing role of Cool Water
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967. ; 51:1, s. 133-159
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Cool Water condition is a climatic configuration that combines periodically frosty winters with mildly warm summers under the ubiquitous accessibility of fresh water. Historically, it embodied opportunity endowments that weakened fertility pressures, resulting in household formation patterns that empowered women and reduced gender inequality. Reviewing the literature on the deep historic roots of gender inequality, this paper theorizes and provides evidence for a trajectory that (1) originates in the Cool Water climatic configuration, (2) leads to late female marriages in preindustrial times, and (3) eventually paves the way for various gender-egalitarian patterns of the present.
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| 17. |
- Sauka, Arnis, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring the shadow economy using company managers
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier: 24 months. - 1095-7227 .- 0147-5967. ; 43:2, s. 471-490
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study develops a method that uses surveys of company managers to measure the size of a shadow economy. Our method is based on the premise that company managers are the most likely to know how much business income and wages go unreported due to their unique position in dealing with both of these types of income. We use a range of survey design features to maximize the truthfulness of responses. Our method combines estimates of misreported business income, unregistered or hidden employees, and unreported wages, to arrive at an estimate of the size of a shadow economy as a percentage of GDP. This approach differs from most other studies of shadow economies, which largely focus on using macroindicators. We illustrate the application of our method to three new EU member countries. We also analyze the factors that influence companies' participation in the shadow economy.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Thede, Susanna, 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of corruption on foreign direct investment : Evidence from Swedish multinational enterprises
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 51:1, s. 348-371
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, we provide novel evidence on the adjustment of multinational enterprises (MNEs) to corrupt environments. We examine if the corruption barrier to entry is reduced by corruption experience (i.e., previous investment in a corrupt system) using a rich enterprise data set on Swedish manufacturers' activities in the 1997-2015 period. A mixed logit model, which accounts for enterprise-specific market substitution patterns, is used to ensure the accuracy of estimates. Our findings show that a strong deterrent effect of corruption is counteracted by corruption experience, which implies that MNEs learn to adjust to reduce corruption entry costs. Multinational enterprises that acquire corruption experience gain a competitive advantage over other enterprises.
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| 20. |
- Upward, R., et al.
(författare)
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Weighing China's export basket: The domestic content and technology intensity of Chinese exports
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Comparative Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967. ; 41:2, s. 527-543
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper we use new, detailed, and comprehensive linked firm-transaction data to measure the domestic content and technology intensity of Chinese exports over the period 2000-2007. We evaluate the extent of value-added in China's exports, using a modification of a method proposed by Hummels et al. (2001) which takes into account the prevalence of processing firms. In addition, we provide new estimates of the skill-and technology-intensity of China's exports. Our estimates of value-added suggest that the domestic content of China's exports increased from only 53% to about 60% over the period 2003-2006. Our cross-firm analysis reveals that processing exporters have value-added shares approximately 50% lower than non-processing exporters, even after accounting for ownership, location, and industry. We also show that Chinese exports have become increasingly sophisticated, largely driven by skill and technology improvement within industries.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Åkerman, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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The global arms trade network 1950-2007
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics (Print). - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 42:3, s. 535-551
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using SIPRI data on all international transfers of major conventional weapons 1950-2007, we study the relationship between differences in polity and arms trade. To study whether states tend to trade arms within their political vicinity we estimate gravity models of the likelihood of trade at the bilateral level and study the evolution of the global network over time. We find a stable negative relationship between differences in polity and the likelihood of arms trade for the duration of the Cold War, but not in recent years. In line with these results, the global arms trade network changes drastically over the sample period in several respects: it grows more dense, clustered and decentralized over time. The differences between the NATO and Warsaw Pact sub-networks that we find corroborate the common perception that the Warsaw Pact was more strongly centralized around the USSR than NATO around the UK, the US and France.
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