After Nicaragua's fraudulent 2016 elections, President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President
and First Lady Rosario Murillo appeared firmly in control, buoyed by economic growth and …

Can autocratic governments gain support by implementing a welfare reform and a
repressive law? This paper studies a famous case-Bismarck's policies of social insurance …

I build a citizen-candidate model in which one candidate, the incumbent, can selectively
eliminate other citizen-candidates. I apply it to study candidate elimination in competitive …

This thesis examines the reciprocity between the economy and elections, politicians, and
policies. To inform voters about the consequences of their ballot choices, understanding the …

In most modern societies, governments provide the framework for societal organization.
They design institutions and establish a universal set of rules that all members of society are …

In 2023, three African nations saw major military coups; citizens of those nations cheered. As
many post-colonial societies are currently experiencing a dictatorship or democratic …

Can autocratic governments gain support by implementing a welfare reform and a
repressive law? This paper studies a famous case–Bismarck's policies of social insurance …

This dissertation consists of three essays on elections in democracies and competitive
authoritarian regimes. The first chapter examines how the incumbent in an authoritarian …