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American Economic Review: Vol. 102 No. 4 (June 2012)

AER Volume. 102, Issue 4 | Previous ArticleNext Article

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AER Forthcoming Articles

Dynamics and Stability of Constitutions, Coalitions, and Clubs

Article Citation

Acemoglu, Daron, Georgy Egorov, and Konstantin Sonin. 2012. "Dynamics and Stability of Constitutions, Coalitions, and Clubs." American Economic Review, 102(4): 1446-76.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.102.4.1446

Abstract

In dynamic collective decision making, current decisions determine the future distribution of political power and influence future decisions. We develop a general framework to study this class of problems. Under acyclicity, we characterize dynamically stable states as functions of the initial state and obtain two general insights. First, a social arrangement is made stable by the instability of alternative arrangements that are preferred by sufficiently powerful groups. Second, efficiency-enhancing changes may be resisted because of further changes they will engender. We use this framework to analyze dynamics of political rights in a society with different types of extremist views. (JEL D71, D72, K10)

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Authors

Acemoglu, Daron (MIT)
Egorov, Georgy (Northwestern U)
Sonin, Konstantin (New Economic School, Moscow)

JEL Classifications

D71: Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
D72: Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
K10: Basic Areas of Law: General (Constitutional Law)