Beatriz Maldonado

Electoral Experience, Institutional Quality and Economic Development in Latin America

In a panel of 18 Latin American countries from 1900 to 2007, we test the degree to which institutions and geography affect country income. Using a new instrument, we find strong evidence that both institutions and geography are important determinants of country income. However, the penalty for economically unfavourable geography is much smaller than the potential benefits from good institutions. The coefficient estimates do not vary significantly when there are changes in the number of countries included in the analysis; the results for institutions are robust to the inclusion of country-fixed effects.

Are female politicians more responsive to international crises

This article analyses bilateral foreign aid flows over the period 1973 to 2010 to investigate whether the gender composition of legislatures in donor nations affects the aid response to recipient country crises. Our findings suggest that donors with higher shares of women in office provide larger amounts of foreign aid in the wake of a disaster or war in a recipient nation. This response increases in size with the magnitude of the crisis and is especially pronounced for aid flows designated as disaster relief.

Legislatures, Leaders, and Leviathans: How Constitutional Institutions Affect the Size of Government Spending

Research has shown that government spending can affect GDP growth rates, yet there is no comprehensive study that looks at how a country’s choice of political institutions affects government spending. Using a panel of 92 democracies, this paper focuses on how the choice of regime type (presidential, parliamentary or mixed), legislative chamber structure (bicameral or unicameral), legislative chamber size, and electoral rules affect the level of government spending. The results show that the relationship between legislative chamber size and government spending is linear in unicameral countries but non-linear in bicameral countries, plurality electoral rule is always associated with less spending than any other type of electoral rule, and unicameral and bicameral countries should not be modeled together.

Is there adaptation to predictable climate change along the temperature-conflict nexus? Evidence from the El Niño Southern Oscillation

ABSTRACT A growing body of research connects short-run deviations in weather with violence. Less well understood is the scope for agents to adapt to medium and longer-run climate fluctuations. We follow existing research and use the existing climactic forces of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to analyse climate change – exploiting the fact that in 1989 published forecasts of these fluctuations became available. In a generalized differences framework, we contrast the impact of ENSO in affected areas of the globe relative to unaffected areas before and after 1989, finding no robust evidence that adaptation efforts are successfully mitigating conflict or civil unrest occurring as a result of these fluctuations.

Women’s rights and the patterns of migration

This article investigates women’s economic, political, and social rights in both home and destination countries as potential push and pull factors of female migration. Using a bilateral framework including 104 origin countries and 28 destination countries for the years 1990 and 2000, we document that for female migrants with various levels of education, when women’s economic and social rights at home improve, they are less likely to leave, but women’s political rights are a push factor. Women’s economic rights in destination countries attract female migrants of all education levels but more so those with a tertiary education. Also, women’s political rights in destination countries are a pull factor, but women’s social rights are not.

Climate Change and Civil Unrest: Evidence from the El Niño Southern Oscillation

A growing body of research connects short-run deviations in temperature and precipitation with violence. Less well understood is the extent to which these studies are representative of the impacts of global climate change. We follow the approach of Hsiang, Meng, and Cane (2011, Science) in using the existing climactic forces of El Nino and La Nina to analyze the potential consequences of climate change. We show that these events are strongly associated with subsequent periods of elevated social unrest. The effects we document are especially pronounced for Latin America which is particularly vulnerable both to existing climactic cycles and to projected climate change. Climate forces strongly influence the onset and frequency of government crises and anti-government demonstrations in Latin America specifically, suggesting a critical need to further develop political and social infrastructure to cope with these evolving challenges.