Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Separate studies in comparative political economy explain that distinctive economic performances of industrialized economies are produced by interactions between government partisanship and labor institutions, partisanship and the central bank, and labor and the central bank, respectively. There is thus reason to expect that all three factors of partisanship, the central bank, and labor jointly influence economic performance. This paper investigates their interactive effects on economic growth, inflation, and unemployment among OECD countries. The data show patterns distinct from those expected by any conventional explanations. There is little support for social democratic neocorporatism. But partisan differences do exist—just not in the way presumed by existing theories. Contrary to existing explanations, central bank independence enhances left governments’ growth. It also enhanced their employment performance in the 1990s, while it fueled their unemployment in the 1970s if labor is decentralized. It appears that the left’s policy preferences became more consistent with central bank monetary policy toward the 1990s.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Poster presentation - two page abstract and detailed outline attached, per ASA guidelines for submission.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What factors cause protests? Scholars have conducted cross-national analysis on determinants of protest. However, their studies have been paid less attention on institutional factors. This paper examines the importance of institutional factors in accounting for protest in 17 Western European democracies from 1980 through 1995. To deal with cross-sectional time-series count data, this paper uses Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) model with negative binomial distribution. Results show that institutional factors do matter in explaining the causes of protest. Especially, electoral system is strongly related with the number of protests: Proportional Representation (PR) system really decreases the number of protests more than any other electoral systems.

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Abstract: As outlined and adopted by the United Nations in 1951, genocide explicitly affects groups with inherent and unchangeable identities, “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” The role of identity and the development of negated identities are likely linked to the eruption of mass violence and brutality of genocide. Using Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory, the development of group or social identities is discussed followed by an introduction to the concept of “not-identities” or “negated identities.” This roundtable serves as an initial exploration of the construction of competing identities and its relationship to genocidal conflict.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: State courts play a vital role in political and economic development in Latin America, yet they are neglected subjects of comparative judicial scholarship. A subnational level of analysis enhances the comparative leverage of judicial scholarship, and is substantively important since the majority of litigation originates in state courts. This study analyzes the efficiency of the criminal justice sector in 17 Mexican states. Greater judicial efficiency reduces congestion and delay – two harms identified with weak judiciaries – and also increases access to the courts by reducing the amount of time that any one case remains in court. This quantitative study of judicial efficiency tests social, political, economic, and institutional explanations of variation in efficiency across states and changes in efficiency over time. The results indicate that social, economic, and institutional pressures shape judicial efficiency in important ways. Additionally, the results suggest a counterintuitive negative relationship between competitive politics and efficiency.