Most parliamentary systems have endogenous election timing, where the Prime Minister is free to call for elections when he or she thinks it's appropriate to do so. Despite the huge advantage one might expect this opportunity creates, Prime Ministers still lose frequently. Alastair Smith proposes an informational theory that relates the time when leaders call for elections to the consequences of their decisions. Smith demonstrates why leaders find it difficult to profit from their ability to call for elections, even when they are popular and face weak opposition.
Most parliamentary systems have endogenous election timing, where the Prime Minister is free to call for elections when he or she thinks it's appropri...
This book offers the first political theory of special purpose jurisdictions, including 35,000 special districts and 13,500 school districts, which constitute the most common form of local government in the United States today. Collectively, special purpose governments have more civilian employees than the federal government and spend more than all city governments combined. The proliferation of special purpose jurisdictions has fundamentally altered the nature of representation and taxation in local government. Citizens today are commonly represented by dozens in some cases hundreds of local...
This book offers the first political theory of special purpose jurisdictions, including 35,000 special districts and 13,500 school districts, which co...
This book offers the first political theory of special purpose jurisdictions, including 35,000 special districts and 13,500 school districts, which constitute the most common form of local government in the United States today. Collectively, special purpose governments have more civilian employees than the federal government and spend more than all city governments combined. The proliferation of special purpose jurisdictions has fundamentally altered the nature of representation and taxation in local government. Citizens today are commonly represented by dozens in some cases hundreds of local...
This book offers the first political theory of special purpose jurisdictions, including 35,000 special districts and 13,500 school districts, which co...
The authors have two purposes in this book, and they succeed admirably at both. They develop a general model of public policy making focused on the difficulties of securing intertemporal exchanges among politicians. They combine the tools of game theory with Williamson's transaction cost theory, North's institutional arguments, and contract theory to provide a general theory of public policy making in a comparative political economy setting. They also undertake a detailed study of Argentina, using statistical analyses on newly developed data to complement their nuanced account of...
The authors have two purposes in this book, and they succeed admirably at both. They develop a general model of public policy making focused on the di...
This book proposes a selection model for explaining cross-national variation in economic voting: Rational voters condition the economic vote on whether incumbents are responsible for economic outcomes, because this is the optimal way to identify and elect competent economic managers under conditions of uncertainty. This model explores how political and economic institutions alter the quality of the signal that the previous economy provides about the competence of candidates. The rational economic voter is also attentive to strategic cues regarding the responsibility of parties for economic...
This book proposes a selection model for explaining cross-national variation in economic voting: Rational voters condition the economic vote on whethe...
This book investigates the causes and consequences of congressional attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the extent of public support for judicial independence constitutes the practical limit of judicial independence. First, the book presents a historical overview of Court-curbing proposals in Congress. Then, building on interviews with Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, and judicial and legislative staffers, as well as existing research, the book theorizes that congressional attacks are driven by public discontent with the Court. From this theoretical model, predictions...
This book investigates the causes and consequences of congressional attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the extent of public support for j...
The Political Economy of Property Rights investigates the transformation of property rights in post-communist countries and China. The movement to effective market economies requires the creation of more effective supporting institutions, especially systems of property rights that decentralize the control of economic resources. This process is inherently political, and thus should be studied from the perspective of political economy.
The Political Economy of Property Rights investigates the transformation of property rights in post-communist countries and China. The movement to eff...
Between 1720 and the mid-nineteenth century, the legal framework of England remained static, while the country went through an economic and social evolution known as the Industrial Revolution. This book addresses the apparent discrepancy between the developing economy of 1720-1844 and the stagnant legal framework of business organization during the same period. The book specifically focuses on the ways by which the legal-economic nexus of the period gave rise to the modern institutions of organizing business.
Between 1720 and the mid-nineteenth century, the legal framework of England remained static, while the country went through an economic and social evo...
