A comment on: "State Capacity, Reciprocity, and the Social Contract" by Timothy Besley
Journal
Econometrica
Subject
Economics
Publishing details
Authors / Editors
Papaioannou E
Biographies
Publication Year
2020
Abstract
In this note, I discuss avenues for future research stemming from Besley's [this issue] theoretical approach on the interconnections between civicness, institutions, and state-fiscal capacity. First, I lay down some ideas on how one could extend the framework to model fragility traps that characterize many low-income countries and study issues related to nation-building, conflict, and heterogeneity across space and ethnic lines in the provision of public goods. Second, I discuss the relevance of the approach for the analysis of authoritarian populism that is spreading in developed countries and emerging markets.
Keywords
Institutions; States; Social capital; Public goods; Fractionalisation; Populism
Available on ECCH
No
