PRIN- PROGRAMMI DI RICERCA SCIENTIFICA DI RILEVANTE INTERESSE NAZIONALE 2009 ( http://prin.miur.it)
The research unit will develop three lines of research related to political institutions, social conflicts and economic policies. At a general level, the aim of this unit is to analyze the endogenous formation of political institutions and beliefs. We want to build dynamic general equilibrium models where institutions and different kind of beliefs affect each other and change endogenously over time in order to better understand the formation of institutions and beliefs in the society. The three directions of our research are the following. A first line focus on the study of the co-evolution of political institutions (such as democracies and dictatorships) and political ideology in terms of democratic culture. A second direction concerns the analysis of the interactions between religion and technology adoption with special attention on their effects on economic growth and fiscal policy outcomes. A third direction of this research focus on the effects of different political ideologies on the behavior of politicians, with special attention on their choices about reforms affecting their constituencies.