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This paper introduces the notion of surprising institutions. Because we often carry incorrect beliefs about the world surrounding us and we are therefore often mistaken about the nature of the institutional structure facing us. The story told in this paper shows that an institution may come as a surprise, even though its origins lies some 500 years back, and that the information we receive as feedback on our actions does not necessarily improve our understanding of the institutional structure. It turns out that it is possible for an "ordinary citizen" to win a case against a multinational corporation, and against a government agency with more than 350 years on its neck (what a surprise!) but it also transpires that even if you win, you lose (not quite a surprise).

Institutions of autonomy in ethnically heterogeneous states have been conceived as a compromise between a desire to safeguard state unity and to partially accommodate the grievances of ethnolinguistic minorities. However, in practice, the institutions of autonomy often turn into a nucleus of a proto state of the ethno-linguistic minority. Instead of resolving the minority issue and stabilising the central state, they strengthen the local nationalism and secessionism, acting as centrifugal forces, or "subversive institutions". Recently these processes have been noticed in several ethnically heterogeneous, developed Western democracies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether, and how, the institutions of autonomy influence the rise of peripheral nationalism and secessionism.

This thesis studies the link between institutions, gender and politics. Three questions are studied: can institutions undo gender norms? Would institutions be more gender-egalitarian if they were headed by women? Why are women absent from positions of power?The first chapter of this thesis tests whether institutions can undo gender. In particular, we study the consequences of institutions on the perpetuation of gender norms. We study the norm according to which a woman should earn less than her husband. Using the German division as a natural experiment, we show that East German institutions have undone gender. East German women can earn more than their husband without increasing their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk, or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income and its consequences are still prevalent in the West.The second chapter studies whether institutions would be more gender-egalitarian if more women were heading them. In particular, I test whether female politicians have the same priorities than their male counterparts. The context studied is the French Parliament from 2001 to 2017. Using text analysis and quasi-experimental variations to randomize legislators' gender, this chapter shows that women are twice more likely to initiate women-related amendments in the Lower House. Women's issues constitute the key topic on which women are more active, followed by health and childhood issues whereas men are more active on military issues. I provide supporting evidence that these results are driven by the individual interest of legislators. Finally, I replicate these results in the Upper House by exploiting the introduction of a gender quota.The third chapter studies the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. I investigate whether the persistence of incumbents hinders female access to political positions when incumbents are predominantly men. I exploit regression discontinuity from close electoral races in French ...

This thesis studies the link between institutions, gender and politics. Three questions are studied: can institutions undo gender norms? Would institutions be more gender-egalitarian if they were headed by women? Why are women absent from positions of power?The first chapter of this thesis tests whether institutions can undo gender. In particular, we study the consequences of institutions on the perpetuation of gender norms. We study the norm according to which a woman should earn less than her husband. Using the German division as a natural experiment, we show that East German institutions have undone gender. East German women can earn more than their husband without increasing their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk, or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income and its consequences are still prevalent in the West.The second chapter studies whether institutions would be more gender-egalitarian if more women were heading them. In particular, I test whether female politicians have the same priorities than their male counterparts. The context studied is the French Parliament from 2001 to 2017. Using text analysis and quasi-experimental variations to randomize legislators' gender, this chapter shows that women are twice more likely to initiate women-related amendments in the Lower House. Women's issues constitute the key topic on which women are more active, followed by health and childhood issues whereas men are more active on military issues. I provide supporting evidence that these results are driven by the individual interest of legislators. Finally, I replicate these results in the Upper House by exploiting the introduction of a gender quota.The third chapter studies the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. I investigate whether the persistence of incumbents hinders female access to political positions when incumbents are predominantly men. I exploit regression discontinuity from close electoral races in French ...

This thesis studies the link between institutions, gender and politics. Three questions are studied: can institutions undo gender norms? Would institutions be more gender-egalitarian if they were headed by women? Why are women absent from positions of power?The first chapter of this thesis tests whether institutions can undo gender. In particular, we study the consequences of institutions on the perpetuation of gender norms. We study the norm according to which a woman should earn less than her husband. Using the German division as a natural experiment, we show that East German institutions have undone gender. East German women can earn more than their husband without increasing their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk, or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income and its consequences are still prevalent in the West.The second chapter studies whether institutions would be more gender-egalitarian if more women were heading them. In particular, I test whether female politicians have the same priorities than their male counterparts. The context studied is the French Parliament from 2001 to 2017. Using text analysis and quasi-experimental variations to randomize legislators' gender, this chapter shows that women are twice more likely to initiate women-related amendments in the Lower House. Women's issues constitute the key topic on which women are more active, followed by health and childhood issues whereas men are more active on military issues. I provide supporting evidence that these results are driven by the individual interest of legislators. Finally, I replicate these results in the Upper House by exploiting the introduction of a gender quota.The third chapter studies the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. I investigate whether the persistence of incumbents hinders female access to political positions when incumbents are predominantly men. I exploit regression discontinuity from close electoral races in French municipalities to randomize the eligibility of incumbent mayors for reelection. Despite a context increasingly favorable to the election of women, I find that the persistence of incumbents does not block female access to the position of mayor. I investigate the mechanisms and show that it is more difficult for a woman to replace a female incumbent than a male one. ; Cette thèse vise à étudier le lien entre institutions, genre et politique. Elle cherche à répondre à trois questions: les institutions peuvent-elles défaire les normes de genre ? Les institutions seraient-elles plus égalitaires si elles étaient dirigées par des femmes ? Pourquoi les femmes sont-elles absentes des positions de pouvoir ? Le premier chapitre de cette thèse vise à étudier le rôle des institutions dans la création des normes de genre. La norme étudiée est celle selon laquelle une femme doit gagner moins que son mari. En utilisant, la division de l'Allemagne comme une expérience naturelle, nous montrons que les institutions égalitaires est-allemandes ont défait le genre. Après la réunification, une femme est-allemande peut gagner plus que son mari sans augmenter son nombre d'heures de travail domestique, risquer de divorcer ou de se retirer du marché du travail. A l'opposé, en Allemagne de l'Ouest, ces comportements sont toujours observables.Le deuxième chapitre étudie si les institutions seraient plus égalitaires avec des femmes à leur tête. En particulier, nous cherchons à déterminer si les femmes politiciennes ont les mêmes priorités que leurs collègues masculins. Le contexte étudié est celui du Parlement Français durant la période 2001-2017. En combinant des méthodes d'analyse de texte avec des variations exogènes dans le sexe des politiciens, ce chapitre montre que, relativement à leurs collègues masculins, les femmes politiciennes à l'Assemblée Nationale défendent plus les intérêts des femmes dans la population. Le thème où les différences sexuées d'activité parlementaire sont les plus marquées est précisément celui de l'égalité femmes-hommes, suivi des thématiques liées à l'enfance et à la santé. Les hommes sont plus actifs sur les thématiques militaires. Nous montrons que ces différences proviennent de l'intérêt individuel des législateurs. Enfin, nous répliquons ces résultats au Sénat en exploitant l'introduction d'une réforme qui a imposé la parité.Le troisième chapitre s'intéresse aux raisons derrière la sous-représentation des femmes dans les positions de pouvoir. Il cherche à déterminer si dans un contexte où les politiciens sont majoritairement des hommes, la "prime aux sortants" lors d'élections réduit le nombre de femmes élues. Le contexte étudié est celui des municipalités de moins de 1000 habitants en France. Nous montrons que contrairement à ce qu'on peut s'attendre, lorsque les politiciens ne sont pas éligibles à leur réélection, la part de femmes élus n'augmente pas. C'est parce qu'il est plus difficile pour une femme de remplacer une femme que de remplacer un homme.

This thesis studies the link between institutions, gender and politics. Three questions are studied: can institutions undo gender norms? Would institutions be more gender-egalitarian if they were headed by women? Why are women absent from positions of power?The first chapter of this thesis tests whether institutions can undo gender. In particular, we study the consequences of institutions on the perpetuation of gender norms. We study the norm according to which a woman should earn less than her husband. Using the German division as a natural experiment, we show that East German institutions have undone gender. East German women can earn more than their husband without increasing their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk, or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income and its consequences are still prevalent in the West.The second chapter studies whether institutions would be more gender-egalitarian if more women were heading them. In particular, I test whether female politicians have the same priorities than their male counterparts. The context studied is the French Parliament from 2001 to 2017. Using text analysis and quasi-experimental variations to randomize legislators' gender, this chapter shows that women are twice more likely to initiate women-related amendments in the Lower House. Women's issues constitute the key topic on which women are more active, followed by health and childhood issues whereas men are more active on military issues. I provide supporting evidence that these results are driven by the individual interest of legislators. Finally, I replicate these results in the Upper House by exploiting the introduction of a gender quota.The third chapter studies the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. I investigate whether the persistence of incumbents hinders female access to political positions when incumbents are predominantly men. I exploit regression discontinuity from close electoral races in French municipalities to randomize the eligibility of incumbent mayors for reelection. Despite a context increasingly favorable to the election of women, I find that the persistence of incumbents does not block female access to the position of mayor. I investigate the mechanisms and show that it is more difficult for a woman to replace a female incumbent than a male one. ; Cette thèse vise à étudier le lien entre institutions, genre et politique. Elle cherche à répondre à trois questions: les institutions peuvent-elles défaire les normes de genre ? Les institutions seraient-elles plus égalitaires si elles étaient dirigées par des femmes ? Pourquoi les femmes sont-elles absentes des positions de pouvoir ? Le premier chapitre de cette thèse vise à étudier le rôle des institutions dans la création des normes de genre. La norme étudiée est celle selon laquelle une femme doit gagner moins que son mari. En utilisant, la division de l'Allemagne comme une expérience naturelle, nous montrons que les institutions égalitaires est-allemandes ont défait le genre. Après la réunification, une femme est-allemande peut gagner plus que son mari sans augmenter son nombre d'heures de travail domestique, risquer de divorcer ou de se retirer du marché du travail. A l'opposé, en Allemagne de l'Ouest, ces comportements sont toujours observables.Le deuxième chapitre étudie si les institutions seraient plus égalitaires avec des femmes à leur tête. En particulier, nous cherchons à déterminer si les femmes politiciennes ont les mêmes priorités que leurs collègues masculins. Le contexte étudié est celui du Parlement Français durant la période 2001-2017. En combinant des méthodes d'analyse de texte avec des variations exogènes dans le sexe des politiciens, ce chapitre montre que, relativement à leurs collègues masculins, les femmes politiciennes à l'Assemblée Nationale défendent plus les intérêts des femmes dans la population. Le thème où les différences sexuées d'activité parlementaire sont les plus marquées est précisément celui de l'égalité femmes-hommes, suivi des thématiques liées à l'enfance et à la santé. Les hommes sont plus actifs sur les thématiques militaires. Nous montrons que ces différences proviennent de l'intérêt individuel des législateurs. Enfin, nous répliquons ces résultats au Sénat en exploitant l'introduction d'une réforme qui a imposé la parité.Le troisième chapitre s'intéresse aux raisons derrière la sous-représentation des femmes dans les positions de pouvoir. Il cherche à déterminer si dans un contexte où les politiciens sont majoritairement des hommes, la "prime aux sortants" lors d'élections réduit le nombre de femmes élues. Le contexte étudié est celui des municipalités de moins de 1000 habitants en France. Nous montrons que contrairement à ce qu'on peut s'attendre, lorsque les politiciens ne sont pas éligibles à leur réélection, la part de femmes élus n'augmente pas. C'est parce qu'il est plus difficile pour une femme de remplacer une femme que de remplacer un homme.

This thesis studies the link between institutions, gender and politics. Three questions are studied: can institutions undo gender norms? Would institutions be more gender-egalitarian if they were headed by women? Why are women absent from positions of power?The first chapter of this thesis tests whether institutions can undo gender. In particular, we study the consequences of institutions on the perpetuation of gender norms. We study the norm according to which a woman should earn less than her husband. Using the German division as a natural experiment, we show that East German institutions have undone gender. East German women can earn more than their husband without increasing their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk, or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income and its consequences are still prevalent in the West.The second chapter studies whether institutions would be more gender-egalitarian if more women were heading them. In particular, I test whether female politicians have the same priorities than their male counterparts. The context studied is the French Parliament from 2001 to 2017. Using text analysis and quasi-experimental variations to randomize legislators' gender, this chapter shows that women are twice more likely to initiate women-related amendments in the Lower House. Women's issues constitute the key topic on which women are more active, followed by health and childhood issues whereas men are more active on military issues. I provide supporting evidence that these results are driven by the individual interest of legislators. Finally, I replicate these results in the Upper House by exploiting the introduction of a gender quota.The third chapter studies the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in positions of power. I investigate whether the persistence of incumbents hinders female access to political positions when incumbents are predominantly men. I exploit regression discontinuity from close electoral races in French municipalities to randomize the eligibility of incumbent mayors for reelection. Despite a context increasingly favorable to the election of women, I find that the persistence of incumbents does not block female access to the position of mayor. I investigate the mechanisms and show that it is more difficult for a woman to replace a female incumbent than a male one. ; Cette thèse vise à étudier le lien entre institutions, genre et politique. Elle cherche à répondre à trois questions: les institutions peuvent-elles défaire les normes de genre ? Les institutions seraient-elles plus égalitaires si elles étaient dirigées par des femmes ? Pourquoi les femmes sont-elles absentes des positions de pouvoir ? Le premier chapitre de cette thèse vise à étudier le rôle des institutions dans la création des normes de genre. La norme étudiée est celle selon laquelle une femme doit gagner moins que son mari. En utilisant, la division de l'Allemagne comme une expérience naturelle, nous montrons que les institutions égalitaires est-allemandes ont défait le genre. Après la réunification, une femme est-allemande peut gagner plus que son mari sans augmenter son nombre d'heures de travail domestique, risquer de divorcer ou de se retirer du marché du travail. A l'opposé, en Allemagne de l'Ouest, ces comportements sont toujours observables.Le deuxième chapitre étudie si les institutions seraient plus égalitaires avec des femmes à leur tête. En particulier, nous cherchons à déterminer si les femmes politiciennes ont les mêmes priorités que leurs collègues masculins. Le contexte étudié est celui du Parlement Français durant la période 2001-2017. En combinant des méthodes d'analyse de texte avec des variations exogènes dans le sexe des politiciens, ce chapitre montre que, relativement à leurs collègues masculins, les femmes politiciennes à l'Assemblée Nationale défendent plus les intérêts des femmes dans la population. Le thème où les différences sexuées d'activité parlementaire sont les plus marquées est précisément celui de l'égalité femmes-hommes, suivi des thématiques liées à l'enfance et à la santé. Les hommes sont plus actifs sur les thématiques militaires. Nous montrons que ces différences proviennent de l'intérêt individuel des législateurs. Enfin, nous répliquons ces résultats au Sénat en exploitant l'introduction d'une réforme qui a imposé la parité.Le troisième chapitre s'intéresse aux raisons derrière la sous-représentation des femmes dans les positions de pouvoir. Il cherche à déterminer si dans un contexte où les politiciens sont majoritairement des hommes, la "prime aux sortants" lors d'élections réduit le nombre de femmes élues. Le contexte étudié est celui des municipalités de moins de 1000 habitants en France. Nous montrons que contrairement à ce qu'on peut s'attendre, lorsque les politiciens ne sont pas éligibles à leur réélection, la part de femmes élus n'augmente pas. C'est parce qu'il est plus difficile pour une femme de remplacer une femme que de remplacer un homme.

Firms across the globe are affected by red tape, but there is little academic research on how country-level institutions shape red tape perceptions. Drawing on institutional theory, we argue that a variety of formal and informal country-level institutions affect perceptions of red tape in the private sector. We test our hypotheses using six data sources, including the World Economic Forum and the World Bank. Our results indicate that red tape is weakly associated with a country's level of formalization and rule enforcement effectiveness and more prevalent in federal as opposed to unitary states. As for informal institutions, we find that red tape perceptions are more pronounced in countries with an increased conservative political ideology, higher levels of corruption, and cultures that emphasize individualism and uncertainty avoidance. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for theory and practice.

The last few decades have seen a proliferation of constitutional institutions, especially in the Global South, that do not neatly fit within any of three traditional branches of the state. These supposedly 'fourth branch' institutions may include electoral commissions, human rights commissions, central banks, probity bodies such as anti-corruption watchdogs, knowledge institutions such as statistics bureaus and census boards, information commissioners, auditors general, attorneys general and so on. In this paper, I will argue that some of these new institutions are best understood as "guarantor institutions". I will show that in a given political context, a guarantor institution is a tailor-made constitutional institution, vested with material as well as expressive capacities, whose function is to provide a credible and enduring guarantee to a specific non-self-enforcing constitutional norm (or any aspect thereof). Section I explains why polities need credible and enduring guarantees for specific norms, and claims that the expertise, independence, and accountability of guarantor institutions are likely to be key ingredients that determine their effectiveness in serving that purpose. It also argues that constitutional entrenchment of the guarantor institution is entailed in the independence requirement. Section II shows that in order to credibly and enduringly guarantee a norm, certain primary and secondary duties need to be discharged by relevant actors in relation to the norm's content as well as its impact. It further argues that while some of these duties may be performed by institutions that possess expressive capacity alone (roughly, the capacity to speak, express, communicate), others require material capacity (i.e. the physical capacity to effect material changes in the world). Guarantor institutions, unlike integrity institutions, can shoulder primary as well as secondary duties. Furthermore, they are typically vested with expressive as well as material capacities, which is key to their ...

Cheung Kin Hang. ; Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-97). ; Abstracts in English and Chinese. ; Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction ; Divergent meanings of trust and institution --- p.1 ; Research questions --- p.1 ; Structure of thesis --- p.3 ; Chapter Chapter 2: --- Trust and Bounded Rationality ; Meaning and the four key elements of trust --- p.5 ; Plausible loss due to lack of certainty --- p.7 ; Positive expectation by a trusting party --- p.8 ; Relevance to human interaction --- p.9 ; Intentionality --- p.10 ; Trust and Rationality --- p.13 ; Herbert Simon's bounded rationality --- p.13 ; "Bounded rationality, use of authority, and trust" --- p.18 ; Chapter Chapter 3: --- Theory of Institution ; Institutionalisms in Politics and Exchange of Insights --- p.23 ; Understanding of North's Works --- p.25 ; North's understanding of human rationality and economic performance --- p.25 ; "Core idea, major traits of institution and its relationship with actors" --- p.30 ; Learning and Accumulation of Experiences --- p.38 ; Plasticity of human brain --- p.44 ; Path dependence and change of institution --- p.47 ; Chapter Chapter 4: --- Trust and Institution ; Divergent understandings of relationship of trust and institution --- p.54 ; At the neural level: institutionalized experience and neural systems for trust --- p.57 ; At interpersonal and organizational level: reciprocal trust and impacts of empowerment --- p.62 ; At organizational and macro-social level: deprivation experience and social violence --- p.68 ; Chapter Chapter 5: --- Conclusion --- p.73 ; References --- p.76

Un état de l'art des recherches mondiales ; Territorial politics as social and political constructs are major issues for governement and for policy-making. Studying its properties and its dynamics shapes a domain of its own in social sciences. The text presents dominant approaches that have structured knowledge in the last thirty years about center-periphery relationships. Is also summarizes key findings from a comparative perspective ; Les relations centre-périphérie constituent un enjeu majeur pour le gouvernement des affaire publiques et les politiques. L'étude de leurs propriétés et de leurs dynamiques forment un domaine scientifique spécifique dans les sciences sociales. Ce texte identifie les approches principales et les découvertes fondamentales depuis une trentaine d'années en la matière. Il résume aussi les éléments comparatifs entre pays.

Un état de l'art des recherches mondiales ; Territorial politics as social and political constructs are major issues for governement and for policy-making. Studying its properties and its dynamics shapes a domain of its own in social sciences. The text presents dominant approaches that have structured knowledge in the last thirty years about center-periphery relationships. Is also summarizes key findings from a comparative perspective ; Les relations centre-périphérie constituent un enjeu majeur pour le gouvernement des affaire publiques et les politiques. L'étude de leurs propriétés et de leurs dynamiques forment un domaine scientifique spécifique dans les sciences sociales. Ce texte identifie les approches principales et les découvertes fondamentales depuis une trentaine d'années en la matière. Il résume aussi les éléments comparatifs entre pays.

The aim of this report is to present and evaluate the changes which have taken place in institutions of 28 transition countries after 1989. Institutions are here understood as formal rules, including procedural and regulatory institutional solutions determining the economic and political structure of a country. Bearing this in mind, the report provides an analysis of the political system (democracy or dictatorship) and the efficiency of the state institutions, i.e. whether they ensure economic freedom and good governance. Also institutional solutions created by states were analysed, with focus on two areas particularly important for the economy: the labour market and the banking sector. ; Publication with support of the National Science Centre, NCN, grant no. 2011/01/B/HS4/00802, titled: "State in relation to economic freedom. Theory and practice of transition". ; Michał Pilc

What is an institution? And what distinguishes one type of institution from another? We answer these questions using a functionalist approach: types of institutions are identified by their function, or the coordination problems they solve; token institutions are specific solutions to these problems, or equilibria of strategic games. The functionalist approach provides some insights into the limits of reform, or the extent to which institutions – like marriage, property, or democracy – can be modified without turning them into entities of a different kind.

International audience ; The period before the crisis was characterised by a big push for labour market deregulation around the world. This text, while posing some critical question in regards to excessive regulation, examines the beneficial effects of labour market institutions, when they are well designed. Organized as a survey, the chapter first discusses in some detail the meaning, justification and implications of an overarching concept: "protected mobility". Then it separately reviews four main components of labour market institutions (Social Dialogue, Employment Protection Legislation, Unemployment Insurance and Employment Services) analyzes their objectives and means, and provides examples of interesting practices in developed as well as in developing countries. Last, it presents remarks on the interplay of these institutions in the perspective of the productive transformation of an economy.