Supermajority Politics: Equilibrium Range, Policy Diversity, Utilitarian Welfare, and Political Compromise

The standard Bowen model of political competition with single-peaked preferences (Bowen, 1943)predicts party convergence to the median voter’s ideal policy, with the number of equilibrium policies not exceeding two. This result assumes majority rule and unidimensional policy space.We extend this model to static and dynamic political economies where the voting rule is a supermajority rule, and the policy space is totally ordered. Voters’ strategic behavior is captured by the core in static environments and by the largest consistent set in dynamic environments.In these settings, we determine the exact number of equilibria and show that it is an increasing correspondence of the supermajority’s size. This result has implications for the depth of policy diversity across structurally identical supermajoritarian political economies. We also examine equilibrium effects of supermajority rules on utilitarian welfare and political compromise under uncertainty

Replication Data for: A Seat in China’s Rubber Stamp Parliament: What is it Worth and Which Companies Receive One?

China is an autocracy and its parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), is widely derided as an irrelevant ”rubber stamp” whose members wield no influence. Yet recent research shows that companies whose CEOs gain a seat on the NPC tend to see their operating income increase 1.5% and their margins increase 3%. We seek to build on these counter-intuitive findings by determining (1) what an NPC seat is worth, and (2) which companies receive one. In the first section, we apply a superior matching algorithm and code all 1000 of our companies as “coastal” or “inland” - an important variable in Chinese political economy - which we then control for. In this way, we show that the impact of NPC membership on a company’s margins and return on assets has been discounted by 60% in the present literature. Second, we go beyond these findings to explore who receives an NPC seat, speculating that political ties play a major role. Through an analysis of Chinese politics, we argue political ties correlate both with a) state-ownership of a company, b) the coastal or inland location of that company. Both of these measures of political ties are significant in explaining NPC membership, with state-owned companies four-times more likely to gain membership than private ones. We propose there are significant returns to office in this “rubber stamp” parliament, and that these accrue to the politically well-connected

Replication Data for: Quality of Service Predicts Willingness to Pay for Household Electricity Connections in Rural India

This dataverse contains the replication package for: Kennedy, Ryan, Aseem Mahajan, and Johannes Urpelainen. "Quality of Service Predicts Willingness to Pay for Household Electricity Connections in Rural India." Energy Polic

Evaluation of low-pressure pneumoperitoneum laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the most standard procedure for management of symptomatic cholelithiasis or acute cholecystitis in patients without and specific contraindications. Exposure of gallbladder anatomy during laparoscopic cholecystectomy requires creation of pneumoperitoneum by carbon dioxide insufflation. However, the application of carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum may induce undesirable consequences due to either hypercapnea or increased intraabdominal pressure. The physiological changes observed during laparoscopic surgery are a result of patient position, introduction of exogenous insufflation gas and increased intraabdominal pressure due to pneumoperitoneum. Although laparoscopic cholecystectomy results in less postoperative pain and reduced analgesic consumption as compared with open cholecystectomy. The type of pain after laparoscopy differs considerably from that after laparotomy i.e; visceral pain. Shoulder pain is a common complaint following laparoscopic surgery, initially being recognised by gynaecologists during early experience with laparoscopic sterilization. The present study was conducted to evaluate the technique of low-pressure pneumoperitoneum during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Fifty patients admitted for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in the study. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed using standard four ports. Low pressure pneumoperitoneum was generated using carbon dioxide insufflation at a pressure of 8 mmHg. Rest of the steps followed were same as in conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy. No major intraoperative or postoperative complication was noted. No conversion was required to standard pressure laparoscopic cholecystectomy or open cholecystectomy. Low-pressure pneumoperitoneum offers the surgeon the same safety and versatility during laparoscopic cholecystectomy as it confers during normal pressure pneumoperitoneum and helps in reducing immediate postoperative complications especially postoperative shoulder pain

Increasing rural electrification through connection campaigns

To reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of universal household electrification by 2030, developing countries are spending billions of dollars to expand access. India, for example, recently undertook an audacious expansion plan which aimed to electrify every household by December 2018. However, there is little academic study of strategies to increase electrification rates. We argue that significant transaction costs inhibit household applications for connections. As evidence, we report the results of a randomized controlled trial (in 200 communities and 2000 households) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, with a treatment consisting of an informational campaign about the costs and procedure of applying. We found that households exposed to the campaign were three times as likely to apply for a connection. Yet actual connection rates remained unchanged. The results suggest that transaction costs are an important barrier to electrification, but limited capacity and incentive to expand connections are equally important