James A. Robinson

Institute Director of The Pearson Institute; Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor and University Professor; Harris School of Public Policy and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago; Recipient of the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

Publications

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Civilian Control over the Military

Citation Besley, Timothy, and James A Robinson. 2010. “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Civilian Control over the Military”. Journal of the European Economic Association 8:655–663. Download (PDF) Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? Civilian Control over the Military Abstract...

Interlinking and Collusion

Citation Robinson, James A, and Sripad Motiram. 2010. “Interlinking and Collusion”. Review of Development Economics 14:282–301. Download (PDF) Interlinking and Collusion Abstract In this paper, we suggest a new rationale for the existence of interlinked contracts in...

Reevaluating the Modernization Hypothesis

Citation Robinson, James A, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and Pierre Yared. 2009. “Reevaluating the Modernization Hypothesis”. Journal of Monetary Economics 56:1043-1058. Download (PDF) Reevaluating the Modernization Hypothesis Abstract We revisit and critically...

Enclaves and Development: An Empirical Assessment

Citation Robinson, James A, and Jonathan H Conning. 2009. “Enclaves and Development: An Empirical Assessment”. Studies in Comparative International Development 44:359-385. Download (PDF) Enclaves and Development: An Empirical Assessment Abstract In this paper we...

The Real Swing Voter’s Curse

Citation Robinson, James A, and Ragnar Torvik. 2009. “The Real Swing Voter’s Curse”. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 99:310–315. Download (PDF) The Real Swing Voter’s Curse

A political economy theory of the soft budget constraint

Citation Robinson, James A, and Ragnar Torvik. 2009. “A political economy theory of the soft budget constraint”. European Economic Review 53:786–798. Download (PDF) A political economy theory of the soft budget constraint Abstract Why do soft budget constraints exist...

Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile

Citation Robinson, James A, and Jean-Marie Baland. 2008. “Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile”. American Economic Review 98:1737–1765. Download (PDF) Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile Abstract Many employment relationships concede rents to...

Income and Democracy

Citation Robinson, James A, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and Pierre Yared. 2008. “Income and Democracy”. American Economic Review 98:808-842. Download (PDF) Income and Democracy Abstract Existing studies establish a strong cross-country correlation between income...

When Does Policy Reform Work? The Case of Central Bank Independence

Citation Robinson, James A, Daron Acemoglu, Pablo Querubín, and Simon Johnson. 2008. “When Does Policy Reform Work? The Case of Central Bank Independence”. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 351-421. Download (PDF) When Does Policy Reform Work? The Case of Central...