Doctoral Dissertation Research: Political Enfranchisement and Social Capital

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds research that will experimentally test hypotheses from development and political economics related to social capital, political enfranchisement, and trust in government using the unique circumstances of a new democracy in Libya. The causal relationship between democracy and economic growth is hotly debated. While some argue there is a causal relationship between the two, others claim an underlying characteristic of a given society jointly determines both governance and economic growth. One candidate for such a characteristic is social capital. This project sheds light on this question by examining whether, once a democratic election takes place, the stock of social capital in a society can be affected by who wins in that election. The project uses innovative laboratory-style methods from experimental economics conducted in the field in a country that is engaged in free elections for the first time in many years. This research will help us to understand mechanisms that support free elections and political enfranchisement in a fragile democracy, and deepen our understanding of the relationship between governance and economic growth.