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On the relationship beetween [sic] targeted redistribution and economic informality in democracies : a theoretical and empirical exploration
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Rojas Rivera, Angela M. (2012) On the relationship beetween [sic] targeted redistribution and economic informality in democracies : a theoretical and empirical exploration. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2565523~S1
Abstract
Is there a causal link between corrupt machine politics and informality?
Historical and empirical evidence support a positive answer to this question.
The first paper offers a theoretical perspective, which more generally asks how
redistributive politics in a democracy affects the allocation of factors in a dual
economy with a modern and a traditional sector. A model of electoral competition with endogenous group size and output shows that electoral political
agency through targeted redistribution (sector-specific tax rates) can either
promote or discourage the growth of the modern sector. However, the effect of changes in sector size on total output is ambiguous and depends on
parameter combinations. These insights contrast with traditional models in
redistributive politics in which group sizes are exogenous and allocation effects
are overlooked. In this framework, economic forces at work that come from
productivity differentials and endowment distribution are able to outweigh the
effects of the ideological density.
The second paper explores evidence from 64 democracies through an instrumental variable approach. The hypothesis is that machine politics shapes
institutional quality in democracies and thereby determines informality. The
conceptual framework is based on the political exchange space and the portfolio theory of electoral investment. Machine politics is proxied by electoral
risk, and institutional quality is measured by the index of the rule of law.
Instruments of machine politics are searched for among de-jure political institutions. This analysis confirms results already discussed in the related literature on government quality, determinants of informality and the effect of
electoral rules on corruption, however, the main contribution of this research
is to bring political structure into the picture, here the party system, insofar
as it is a key intermediating mechanism between political institutions (de-facto
and de-jure) and social outcomes (political and economic). In other studies
the political structure is a black box that readily disappears when estimating
reduced-form equations.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Alternative Title: | On the relationship between targeted redistribution and economic informality in democracies : a theoretical and empirical exploration | ||||
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science > JC Political theory |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Latin America -- Politics and government, Latin America -- Economic conditions, Elections -- Latin America, Political corruption -- Latin America, Informal sector (Economics) -- Latin America | ||||
Official Date: | February 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Economics | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Dhillon, Amrita ; Woodruff, Christopher | ||||
Sponsors: | Banco de la República (Colombia) ; Universidad de Antioquia. Departamento de Economía | ||||
Extent: | ix, 157 p. : ill., charts | ||||
Language: | eng |
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