We investigate empirically how electoral democracy and judicial independence relate to
personal freedom. While judicial independence is positively and robustly related to personal …

Institutions govern almost all interactions in modern-day societies, be they economic,
political, or social. Institutional economics tries to understand the causes and consequences …

Much recent political economy and political science literature views democracy in terms of
political rights. This view, often referred to as electoral democracy, is particularly pronounced …

Analysis of the political consequences of electoral laws has emphasized how individual
characteristics of the electoral system (electoral formulas, district magnitude, ballot structure) …

The power granted to the courts, both in a nation's constitution and in practice, reveals much
about the willingness of the legislative and executive branches to accept restraints on their …

My purpose is to explore whether democracy within the incumbent party can help citizens to
monitor the government, that is, if the internal accountability of party leaders facilitates their …

While several cross-sectional studies (La Porta et. al. 2002, Norton 2002) examine
institutional and cultural determinants of economic freedom, changes in economic freedom …

One of the most prominent explanations of the creation and maintenance of independent
judiciary is the “insurance theory” that proposes a positive relationship between political …

This paper studies the factors driving changes in constitutionally entrenched judicial
independence (JI). Our indicator of constitutionally safeguarded JI is derived by applying a …

Does increased judicial independence lead to increased state respect for empowerment
rights? Initial research on this topic suggested an affirmative answer, but new data calls this …