Aid donors can aid peace, but can they help stop a return to war?
International aid donors give the majority of their humanitarian and development aid to countries facing civil war. Donors aim to…
How Much Power Does a Voter Have?
Imagine a council in which proposals are adopted if a majority votes in favour, and three actors control 60%, 30%,…
Our Corporate Overlords
On the front cover of one of its 2016 issues, The Economist depicted Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the guise…
Making Non-Voters Pay: Prices as an Alternative to Compulsory Voting
In most democracies, including the USA and UK, voting is voluntary. This usually results in low and unequal electoral turnout,…
Philanthropic Provisioning of Social Services by Elites Reproducing Existing Inequalities
The relevance of the provisions of adequate public services for the material living standards of citizens and the long-term economic…
Committee seats are not always good
Legislative committees have substantial power over the legislative process. Most enjoy negative agenda control—meaning that they can prevent any bill…
You and Whose Army? How Leaders Politicize Military Advice in Foreign Policy
Americans have little trust in political institutions with one notable exception: the U.S. armed forces. In 2019, 73 percent of…
Loyal Leaders, Affluent Agencies: The Budgetary Implications of Political Appointments in the Executive Branch
Can elected representatives control the decisions of unelected bureaucrats? In our forthcoming article, we argue that political competition can often…
Venality in a Hierarchical Bureaucracy: What can go wrong?
A key feature of bureaucratic organizations is the use of vertical arrangements to enhance their performance. Namely, to rely on…
How Fracking Increased Inequality in Political Participation
Over the past fifteen years, the US energy sector has been transformed by innovations in the extraction of natural gas…