State, Institutions and Democracy: Contributions of Political Economy

We provide an empirical analysis aimed at uncovering the economic, political and social variables that make direct democracy institutions more or less likely. We investigate the diffusion of tools of direct democracy as related with some circumstances already discussed by Aghion et al. [2004], and also other factors that have been proposed in the comparative research to describe the shape of democratic regimes. To do so, we make use of a unique dataset where 87 countries are classified through an index of direct democracy (DDI). This index refers both to the availability of direct democracy instruments and to their actual use. By so doing, our analysis provides both a qualitative and a quantitative assessment of the diffusion of direct democracy.