Hunger and Anger in Autocracies and Democracies

Marcus Marktanner and Almuth Merkel

International Journal of Development and Conflict, 2019, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: How do democracies and autocracies respond to rising food prices? Authoritarian regimes, we argue, must match the redistribution that the poor would obtain in a democracy to prevent an uprising. Interpreting authoritarian regimes as the rule of a faction of the rich, we develop a model that suggests that (1) food price inflation is both a threat to democracies and autocracies, (2) food price inflation is more of a threat to autocracies than to democracies, and (3) food price inflation is more of a threat to autocracies that are more factionalized. We provide empirical evidence for these hypotheses.

Keywords: Food Price Inflation; Food Price Riots; Comparative Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H12 O12 O15 P51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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