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Political Power, Elite Control, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Brazil

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This paper analyzes how changes in the concentration of political power affect long-run development. We study Brazil’s military dictatorship whose rise to power dramatically altered the distribution of power of local political elites. We document that municipalities that were more politically concentrated prior to the dictatorship in the 1960s are relatively richer in 2000, despite being poorer initially. Our evidence suggests that this reversal of fortune was the result of the military’s policies aimed at undermining the power of traditional elites. These policies increased political competition locally, which ultimately led to better governance, more provision of public goods, and higher income levels.

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  • Claudio Ferraz & Federico Finan & Monica Maretinez-Bravo, 2020. "Political Power, Elite Control, and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Brazil," Working Papers wp2020_2008, CEMFI.
    • Handle: RePEc:cmf:wpaper:wp2020_2008
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    3. González, Felipe & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2021. "Lost in transition? The persistence of dictatorship mayors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Eslava, Francisco & Valencia Caicedo, Felipe, 2023. "Origins of Latin American inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119763, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Mehmood, Sultan & Seror, Avner, 2023. "Religious leaders and rule of law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    6. Gonzalez, Felipe & Prem, Mounu, 2021. "The Legacy of the Pinochet Regime," SocArXiv v5yjf, Center for Open Science.
    7. Fernando Antonio Ignacio González & María Emma Santos & Juan Cruz Fernández, 2021. "¿Discontinuidades o Continuidades Políticas? Explorando sus Efectos sobre el Desempeño Económico: El Caso de la Intervención Federal en Santiago del Estero," Working Papers 100, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    8. Mehmood, Sultan & Seror, Avner, 2023. "Religious leaders and rule of law," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political power; elites; regime transition; economic development.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • N46 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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