Research

Publication :

Barriola, I.; Deffains, B.; & Musy, O. (2023). Law and inequality: A comparative approach to the distributive implications of legal systems. International Review of Law and Economics, 106139. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0144818823000170

Abstract

The literature on legal traditions focuses on the comparative macroeconomic effects of legal systems, concentrating on efficiency alone and leaving distributive issues to taxation. However, a country’s legal structure also conditions the primary distribution of income and may have a comparative advantage over taxation as a distributive instrument. We use cross-section and panel estimates to show that the level of income inequality in a country is correlated with its legal system. By several measures of inequality, common law countries are on average more unequal than civil law countries. We explain these results by the nature of the systems. The looser regulation in common law countries limits their capacity to achieve social objectives such as combating income inequality.

Working Paper :

The Death of Distance: Mobile Internet and Political Trust in Africa, with R. Chaba (LEMMA) draft available upon request

Abstract

This paper investigates how distance to the capital city shapes opinions on national politics and whether access to information might mitigate this pattern. We combine geocoded individual-level data from Afrobarometer across 20 Sub-Saharan countries between 2011-2021 that collects information about people’s opinion about national politics, with digital maps of mobile internet coverage. First, we exploit modern national borders that arbitrarily divide historical ethnic homelands to estimate the effect of distance to the capital city on national politics opinions. Second, we instrument the mobile internet infrastructure deployment with lightning strike patterns and examine whether the effect of internet expansion varies with distance to the capital city. We show that remote areas have more positive opinions on national politics than areas near capitals, despite limited direct experience with state institutions. They value the country’s economic performance more positively and are more willing to vote for the ruling party in future elections. Internet expansion reduces information frictions on government activities that have isolated remote areas in countries with state-controlled media and weak institutions. Their positive opinions decline toward levels observed near capitals. Our findings suggest that physical isolation from capitals need not permanently determine political attitudes. Internet expansion can reshape these long-standing spatial patterns by connecting remote citizens to national politics.

Work in progress :

Quantifying French Gerrymandering: The Case of the 2017 Election
Electoral Districts and Political Inequality: The French Case Study (1973-2012), with N. Kabbadj
Project on Ethnicity, Trust and Internet in Africa with P. André, Chaba, R., & P. Maarek

Reports :

Barriola, I., & Deffains, B., (2021). Systèmes juridiques et inégalités, Rapport pour la fondation pour le droit continental

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