The World Through the Lens of Power

THE ERC PROJECT OF MASSIMO MORELLI HELPS TO UNDERSTAND IF A BUREAUCRACY IS EFFICIENT, IF A SYSTEM IS CORRUPT, IF THERE ARE HIGH OR LOW POSSIBILITIES OF MILITARY CONFLICT

Massimo Morelli’s (Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management) ERC-funded project is called The Political Economy of Power Relations (PolEc), hosted by IGIER - Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research. The latter part should read as “relations between different types of powers”. At the heart of Morelli’s theoretical and empirical analysis there is the idea that power is multidimensional and hence political economy can benefit from the study of interactions and mismatches between the different types of power.
 
“Right now, we are focusing on the consequences of political instability on bureaucracy. When power is unstable, bureaucracy tends to be inefficient and to exert a feedback effect on the activity of lower quality politicians”. Weighing the relative power of key players means to analyze data on international trade to shed some light on the relationship between military and economic power, monitoring the role of multinational corporations in conflicts, or studying the relationship between corruption and extremism.
 
Another strand of research is about international relations. Existing studies have dealt with the stability of a Balance of Power system, as in the Cold War, and a Preponderance of Power system, where there is a dominant player. “The relationship between two military powers is not enough to measure the chances of peace. The latter are maximized when there is a match between the relative power of the key players on different dimensions. Comparative analysis has a great predictive power”. Companies can benefit from the analysis and invest their money far from war zones.

Read here the other articles on the ERC research projects:

The Dream Team of Research made in..ERC
University at the Time of Star Wars
The Culture That Influences Demography
For a History of Inequality in Europe
Fostering Solidarity in Times of Migrations
A Theory of Games and Emotions
Why with Broadband We will have More Children
How to Communicate Climate Science
At the Birth of Maritime Insurance
Even Distorted Choices can be Rational
The Psychology of Economic Behavior
Great Expectations for Great Objectives
What we are Certain about Uncertainty
Putting a Halt to the Spread of Infections
Wellbeing and Fertility, a Two-Way Relationship
The Role of Financial Imperfections
The Selection of the Political Class
How to Evaluate Innovative Ideas
A Help for Those who make Predictions
When a Government is Guided by Values
 
 

by Claudio Todesco