Whither Political Economy? Theories, Facts and Issues

81 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2005

See all articles by Antonio Merlo

Antonio Merlo

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics; Rice University

Date Written: December 2005

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss recent developments in political economy. By focusing on the microeconomic side of the discipline, I present an overview of current research on four of the fundamental institutions of a political economy: voters, politicians, parties and governments. For each of these topics, I identify and discuss some of the salient questions that have been posed and addressed in the literature, present some stylized models and examples, and summarize the main theoretical findings. Furthermore, I describe the available data, review the relevant empirical evidence, and discuss some of the challenges for empirical research in political economy.

Keywords: microeconomics of political economy, voters, politicians, parties, governments

JEL Classification: D72, D78, H11

Suggested Citation

Merlo, Antonio M., Whither Political Economy? Theories, Facts and Issues (December 2005). PIER Working Paper No. 05-033, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=870311 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.870311

Antonio M. Merlo (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Economics ( email )

Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science
133 South 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6297
United States
215-898-7933 (Phone)
215-573-2057 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.ssc.upenn.edu/~merloa

Rice University ( email )

6100 South Main Street
Houston, TX 77005-1892
United States

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