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Resource Abundance, Political Corruption, and Instability of Democracy

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  • Polterovich, Victor
  • Popov, Vladimir
  • Tonis, Alexander

Abstract

In this paper we analyze data on sustainability of democratic regimes in resource rich countries and suggest a model to explain why resource abundance may lead to instability of democracy in some countries, but does not create any difficulties for a democratic system in other ones. Rate of resource rent tax is considered as the only policy instrument in our simple model. The tax affects the income of a representative voter. Choosing a tax rate, Autocrat competes with conventional Politician (a representative political party) for the office. Our model demonstrates the existence of a threshold for propensity to corruption (a measure of the institutional quality). The probability of the democracy preservation is decreasing in the amount of resources if the propensity is high and is independent of resources or even grows with the amount of resources if the propensity is low. It is shown also that Autocrat may use two types of policies depending on the qualities of governance (abilities to allocate tax revenues without big losses) that the public assigns to her and to Politician. More efficient Autocrat is inclined to follow populist high tax policy whereas lower Autocrat’s efficiency results in pro-Oligarch low tax policy when the country is resource abundant.

Suggested Citation

  • Polterovich, Victor & Popov, Vladimir & Tonis, Alexander, 2007. "Resource Abundance, Political Corruption, and Instability of Democracy," MPRA Paper 19154, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:19154
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    Cited by:

    1. Popov, Vladimir, 2024. "Китайская Модель: Ретроспектива И Перспектива [The Chinese model: Retrospective and perspective]," MPRA Paper 121802, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Vladimir Popov, 2010. "Development theories and development experience: half a century journey," Working Papers w0153, New Economic School (NES).
    3. Vladimir Popov, 2009. "Why the West Became Rich before China and Why China Has Been Catching Up with the West since 1949: nother Explanation of the “Great Divergence” and “Great Convergence” Stories," Working Papers w0132, New Economic School (NES).
    4. Polterovich, Victor & Popov, Vladimir, 2007. "Демократизация И Экономический Рост [Democratization and Economic Growth]," MPRA Paper 23012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Polterovich, Victor & Popov, Vladimir & Tonis, Alexander, 2009. "Концентрация Доходов, Нестабильность Демократии И Экономический Рост [Income Concentration, Instability of Democracy and the Economic Growth]," MPRA Paper 27561, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Vladimir Popov, 2010. "The Long Road to Normalcy: Where Russia Now Stands," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-013, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Popov, Vladimir, 2010. "The Long Road to Normalcy," WIDER Working Paper Series 013, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Vladimir Popov, 2009. "Lessons from the Transition Economies: Putting the Success Stories of the Postcommunist World into a Broader Perspective," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-15, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Polterovich, Victor & Popov, Vladimir, 2007. "Democratization, Quality of Institutions and Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 19152, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Democracy; resource abundance; corruption;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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