Democracy and Redistribution

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, Jul 21, 2003 - Business & Economics - 264 pages
Employing analytical tools borrowed from game theory, Carles Boix offers a complete theory of political transitions, in which political regimes ultimately hinge on the nature of economic assets, their distribution among individuals, and the balance of power among different social groups. Backed up by detailed historical work and extensive statistical analysis that goes back to the mid-nineteenth century, this book explains, among many other things, why democracy emerged in classical Athens. It also discusses the early triumph of democracy in both nineteenth-century agrarian Norway, Switzerland and northeastern America and the failure in countries with a powerful landowning class.
 

Contents

A THEORY OF POLITICAL TRANSITIONS
19
PROVING THE RESULTS OF THE INITIAL GAME
60
ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENTDEMOCRACY CORRELATION
63
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
65
LIST OF POLITICAL REGIMES
98
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
110
THEORETICAL EXTENSIONS GROWTH TRADE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
130
DEMOCRACY AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR
171
THE STATE THE THREAT OF EXPROPRIATION AND THE POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPMENT
188
CONCLUSIONS
217
References
225
Index
237
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases