Democratic Errors
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Date
2008-04-01
Authors
Fender, John
Ellis, Christopher J.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon, Dept of Economics
Abstract
In this paper we combine Acemoglu's model of the economic origins of democracy with
Lohmann's model of political mass protest. This alllows us to provide an analysis of the
economic causes of political regime change based on the microfoundations of rebellion. We
are able to derive conditons under which democracy arises peacefully, when it occurs only
after a violent rebellion, and when oligarchy persists. We model these posibilities in a world
of asymmetric information where information cascades are possible, and where these cascades
may involve errors in a paratian sense.
Description
24 p.
Keywords
Rebellion, Information cascades, Democracy