Institutions & Political Economy

Geoeconomics and conflict: Bridging disciplines in the study of international warfare

International tensions and external wars are on the rise, with major economic implications. To study these, economists should bridge the divide between two fields: (i) research on conflict – the use of military weapons, and (ii) geoeconomics, which f...

Eoin McGuirk Christoph Trebesch

Published

08.09.25

How skin tone still shapes inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that skin tone is a powerful predictor of intergenerational mobility.

Institutions & Political Economy

Guillermo Woo-Mora

Published

15.08.25

How serfdom hardwired extractive institutions into the Russian economy

Unlike Western Europe, Russia entrenched serfdom as an extractive institution rooted in frontier defence. To secure its southern border, the state granted land to servicemen who leveraged their strategic role to restrict peasant mobility—hardwiring c...

Institutions & Political Economy

Andrea Matranga Timur Natkhov

Published

31.07.25

Electoral reform in Brazil reduced voter fraud and improved public services

Evidence from Brazil highlights how tackling voter fraud can not only protect election integrity, but also enhance political accountability, improve leadership quality, and promote better governance outcomes.

Institutions & Political Economy

Ridwan Karim

Published

28.07.25

How expanding voting rights shaped politics in India

Voting rights alone did not transform political participation or competition in India, but they did shift government priorities in favour of the newly enfranchised voters.

Institutions & Political Economy

Guilhem Cassan Lakshmi Iyer Rinchan Ali Mirza

Published

12.08.25

A stepping stone approach to mitigating harmful social norms

Can an intermediate, less severe action serve as a stepping stone to eliminating a harmful norm? Research on female genital cutting in Somalia suggests that the intermediate action risks becoming the new norm.

Institutions & Political Economy

Selim Gulesci Sam Jindani Eliana La Ferrara David Smerdon Munshi Sulaiman Peyton Young

Published

17.07.25

No representation without reservation: The long-term limits of gender quotas in India

New research finds that exposure to 15+ years of women’s quotas in rural local elections does not boost women’s representation when quotas are lifted.

Institutions & Political Economy

Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra Gaurav Sood

Published

02.07.25

Can participatory budgeting build government legitimacy and increase tax revenues in weak states?

Evidence from Sierra Leone shows that digital participatory budgeting can increase government legitimacy in weak states but only increases tax compliance for supporters of the incumbent government.

Institutions & Political Economy

Kevin Grieco Abou Bakarr Kamara Niccolò F. Meriggi Julian Michel Wilson Prichard

Published

27.06.25

What happens when humanitarian aid is cut or delayed?

Humanitarian aid systems are under mounting pressure, with key donors like the US and UK cutting funding despite growing needs. New research in one of the world’s largest refugee camps shows that aid cuts and delays have dramatic impacts on food cons...

Institutions & Political Economy

Vittorio Bruni Olivier Sterck

Published

11.06.25