This paper offers a short introduction to some of the fundamental results of social choice theory. Topics include Nash implementability, monotonic social choice correspondences, the Muller-Satterthwaite impossibility theorem, anonymous and neutral social choice correspondences, sophisticated solutions of binary agendas, the top cycle of a tournament, the bipartisan set for two-party competition...

Markets rest upon institutions. The development of market-based exchange relies on the support of two institutional pillars that are, in turn, shaped by the development of markets. Research in the field of new institutional economics has largely focused upon one such institutional pillar—‘contract-enforcement institutions’—that determine the range of transactions in which individuals can commit...

Recent work by political sociologists and social movement theorists extend our understanding of how religious institutions contribute to expanding democracy, but nearly all analyze religious institutions as institutions; few focus directly on what religion qua religion might contribute. This article strives to illuminate the impact of religious culture per se, extending recent work on religion ...

James A. Robinson is associate professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Recent publications include the co-authored articles “Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 118; “A Theory of Political Transitions,” American Economic Review 91; and “Inefficient Redistribution,...

Markets rest upon institutions. The development of market-based exchange relies on the support of two institutional pillars that are, in turn, shaped by the development of markets. Research in the field of new institutional economics has largely focused upon one such institutional pillar—‘contract-enforcement institutions’—that determine the range of transactions in which individuals can commit...

hat have been the significant changes in China’s economic and political institutions? I will answer this question by discussing eight topics chosen from Milton and Rose Friedman’s book Free to Choose. The topics are economic freedom, the relation between economic and political freedom, the role of government, social welfare, education, consumer protection, macroeconomic policy, and trends in th...

The economic situation in the Arab countries is due to several factors as the political crisis in a socio-economic vulnerability. Political changes are usually accompanied by a drop in production, a deterioration of macroeconomic balances, a high level of poverty, an appearance of economic corruptions and a structural increase in unemployment. In addition, the expansion of terrorism is a main i...