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Institutions and Behavior: Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Democracy

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Author Info
Pedro Dal Bó
Andrew Foster
Louis Putterman

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Abstract

A novel experiment is used to show that the effect of a policy on the level of cooperation is greater when it is chosen democratically by the subjects than when it is exogenously imposed. In contrast to the previous literature, our experimental design allows us to control for selection effects (e.g. those who choose the policy may be affected differently by it). Our finding implies that democratic institutions may affect behavior directly in addition to having effects through the choice of policies. Our findings have implications for the generalizability of the results of randomized policy interventions.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13999.

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Date of creation: May 2008
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13999

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - General
C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ernesto Dal Bó & Pedro Dal Bó & Jason Snyder, 2007. "Political Dynasties," NBER Working Papers 13122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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