Quarterly Journal of Economics articles from November 1997

Quarterly Journal of Economics archives from November 1997

Determinants of privatization prices.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION Auctioning public enterprises is a standard method used to achieve a fundamental objective of privatization: generation of government revenue [Bolton and Roland 1992; Maskin 1992]. This paper examines what determines auction...

On the number and size of nations.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION In the last few years national borders have been redrawn to an extent that is rather exceptional for modern peacetime history. On the one hand, several countries(1) have disintegrated (the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and...

The breakup of nations: a political economy analysis.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION Following the demise of communism, the entire map of Europe, from the Atlantic coast to the Urals, is being redrawn and issues of separation, unification, and the redrawing of borders are yet again at the forefront of European...

Disorganization.
November 1, 1997... Figures I and II show the evolution of official measures of GDP in the countries of the former Soviet Union since 1989. The two figures give a striking picture, that of an extremely large decline in output. In ten out of the fifteen countries,...

The proper scope of government: theory and application to prisons.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION As a general rule, government employees provide most services paid for with tax revenues, such as the police, the military, operation of prisons, fire departments and schools, collection of garbage, and so on. Yet in some...

Separation of powers and political accountability.
November 1, 1997... If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty...

Africa's growth tragedy: policies and ethnic divisions.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION Africa's economic history since 1960 fits the classical definition of tragedy: potential unfulfilled, with disastrous consequences. In the 1960s a leading development textbook ranked Africa's growth potential ahead of East...

Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION The notion of social capital has attracted great academic and journalistic attention, particularly with the publication of Putnam's Making Democracy Work [1993], in which the concept is used to explain differences in the...

A theory of misgovernance.
November 1, 1997... I. INTRODUCTION I.A. Goals of a Theory of Misgovernance The stereotypical view of government bureaucrats, as articulated in the press for example, is that they are lacking in incentives, obsessed with red tape, and probably corrupt. The...