Abstract:

The study of autocracy is arguably one of the most visible fields in political science, producing an already voluminous and still growing literature. The field, however, is not without its problems. One fact perhaps stands out: The field has become extremely fragmented as the field has expanded. This state of fragmentation has its costs. We put forward an integrated and dynamic framework for understanding autocratic politics. An integrated framework allows us to better organize empirical data, reconcile diverging results and interpretations, and reveal neglected and hidden interactions of factors, mechanisms, and pathways. Equally important, an integrated framework exposes critical gaps within our knowledge and suggests new directions for further inquiries.

Speaker Bio:

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About the Topic: An important factor of China’s economic success in the past 35 years was its labor force: its growing size, increasing education level, and reallocation to more efficient sectors. In contrast, China’s labor force is shrinking today, and rural-to-urban migration has slowed significantly.  To maintain a reasonable growth rate, improving human capital and increasing the productivity of labor is key. This talk will discuss pressing issues regarding China’s education, in particular its efficiency and distribution, and offer potential policy recommendations. 

About the Speaker:  Hongbin Li is the C.V. Starr Chair professor of economics in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He also founded and served as the executive associate director of the China Data Center.  He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 2001, and is currently a visiting professor of economics at the Stanford Center for International Development and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Incompetent and dishonest politicians are common in developing countries. Scholars who write about corruption and poor governance tend to take the existence of bad politicians as a given and focus on the damage that they do. Few study the ways in which politicians are recruited in order to improve that process. Some scholars acknowledge the need to encourage the creation of a political class that is competent and honest. But none have gone further by conducting real-world experiments to evaluate the efficacy of screening and incentivizing competent and virtuous citizens to stand for public office, that is, how to nudge good people to become politicians in the first place.

Dr. Ravanilla will describe a policy intervention designed to attract able and ethical candidates to public service. Can a leadership-training workshop and non-monetary status rewards be used to screen and motivate good people to serve the public good? His answer is yes. The results of a randomized field experiment among youth running for an elective post in the Philippines show that such an intervention is indeed feasible and can be effective in motivating able and moral individuals to seek public office while at the same time discouraging candidates who do not meet these criteria.

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