Why Do Elites Permit Reform?
THE ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE WEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF NATIONS, p. 53, Emily Chamlee-Wright, ed., Beloit College, 2009
9 Pages Posted: 22 Oct 2011
Date Written: October 7, 2011
Abstract
This essay examines the question of why elites within pre-modern or natural sates, who earn economic rents and other forms of political privilege from the status quo, ever consent to reform that would threaten their dominance within the political economic order. The paper examines this question in the context of eighteenth-century Britain, with particular emphasis on the role of elites in shifting the institutional rules of the game toward more economic competition and political openness.
Keywords: elites, social reform
JEL Classification: O10
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation