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  3. American Economic Review: Insights
  4. June 2019
  5. Democratic Values and Institutions

Democratic Values and Institutions

  • Timothy Besley
  • Torsten Persson
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 1, no. 1, June 2019
(pp. 59-76)
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Abstract

This paper builds a model of the two-way interaction between democratic values and institutions to bridge sociological research, focusing on values, with economics research, which studies strategic decisions. Some citizens hold values that make them protest to preserve democracy with the share of such citizens evolving endogenously over time. There is then a natural complementarity between values and institutions creating persistence without assuming any form of commitment. The approach unifies ideas in the literature, explains observed patterns in the data on democratic values and political institutions, and suggests new insights into sources of heterogeneity in values.

Citation

Besley, Timothy, and Torsten Persson. 2019. "Democratic Values and Institutions." American Economic Review: Insights, 1 (1): 59-76. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20180248

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D02 Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
  • D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior