Séminaire GREDEG : David K. LEVINE (Royal Holloway University of London)

Title: Vote or Fight?

Abstract: When political power is indivisible, voting is a substitute for fighting. However, voting is only meaningful if the loser chooses not to fight. We study a theoretical model of this substitution, and assess empirically whether it is true that the same economic fundamentals that determine fighting determine voting as well. They do. We introduce a number of theoretical and empirical innovations. We use a recently developed method of analyzing conflict resolution functions to develop robust theoretical results. We introduce a new measure, income relative to the global frontier, and explain why it matters theoretically and empirically. We also establish the stylized fact that fighting (and voting) depend on income relative to the global frontier, but not on how high that frontier happens to be. An important take-away is that reducing global inequality through economic development is essential to reducing conflict and increasing democracy.

Keywords: game theory, democracy, civil war, conflict, voting

We are delighted to host David K. Levine at GREDEG. David received his doctoral training under Nobel laureate Peter Diamond, has served as Associate Editor and Co-Editor of Econometrica, and his work has been cited in several Nobel Prize award summaries/speeches. It is a great honour and a privilege to welcome him to our department.

More about David Levine

Wikipedia entry
Google Scholar profile