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Social ties amongst lower-income citizens shape support for vote-buying candidatesAcross Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia, political candidates often attempt to buy the votes of the most socio-economically deprived communities. But new...
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Research Brief
Social protection as a political brandBlog
Clientelism – another reason to worry about US democracy
The last several months have given us many reasons to worry about US democracy – not least the riot at the US Capitol and the president’s refusal to...
Working Paper
Do gifts buy votes?Vote-buying—or the pre-electoral distribution of private goods in exchange for support at the ballot box—is often blamed for the poor economic performance of many sub-Saharan countries. For instance, vote-buying may undermine accountability and the...
Working Paper
Hidden hostility: donor attention and political violencePolitical violence is a worldwide problem that has been on the rise over the past decade. The international dimension of domestic repression and dissent is a particularly relevant factor yet surprisingly understudied. In particular, governments that...
Working Paper
The loser’s long curse: electoral consequences of a class conflictThis paper presents evidence of political legacies of exposure to a violent class conflict over 100 years. We revisit the Finnish Civil War of 1918 and first trace out the impact of local conflict exposure on electoral outcomes over a quarter-century...
Working Paper
Is economic development affected by the leaders’ education levels?Although formal education is often considered an indicator of political leaders’ quality, the evidence on the effectiveness of educated leaders is mixed. Besides, minimum education qualifications are increasingly being used as requirements for...
Journal Article
Do gifts buy votes?Part of Journal Special Issue Clientelist Politics and Development
Working Paper
Ethnic conflict: the role of ethnic representationWe investigate the impact of the political representation of minority groups on the incidence of ethnic conflict in India. We code data on Hindu-Muslim violence and Muslim political representation in India and leverage quasi-random variation in...
Working Paper
Inequality and voting in fragile countriesThe political consequences of economic inequality have been debated in academic and policy circles for centuries. The nature of this relationship seems highly dependent on specific contexts, with empirical studies showing mixed evidence on how...
Book Chapter
Social assistance, electoral competition, and political branding in MalawiPart of Book The Politics of Social Protection in Eastern and Southern Africa
Blog
India’s General Elections 2019: The potential electoral consequences of demonetisation
In the campaign leading up to the Lok Sabha elections in spring 2014, one of the more important promises that Narendra Modi made was to ‘clean up’ the...
Blog
Narendra Modi’s performance on the Indian economy: Five key policies assessed
When Narendra Modi became India’s prime minister in spring 2014 the Indian economy was in the doldrums. There was a clear policy paralysis in India’s...
Working Paper
Social protection, electoral competition, and political branding in MalawiCompetitive elections in many parts of Africa generate powerful incentives to presidential candidates (and to a lesser extent political parties) to brand themselves in ways that transcend regional or ethnic loyalties. In Malawi, Joyce Banda—President...
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