Field experiments have provided ample evidence of ethnic and racial discrimination in the labour market. Less is known about how discrimination varies in multi-ethnic societies, where the ethnic composition of populations is different across locations. Inter-group contact and institutional arrangements for ethnic minorities can mitigate the sense of group threat and reduce discrimination. To provide empirical evidence of this, we conduct a field experiment of ethnic discrimination in Russia with a sample of over 9,000 job applications. We compare ethnically homogeneous cities and cities with ethnically mixed populations and privileged institutional status of ethnic minorities. We find strong discrimination against visible minorities in the former but much weaker discrimination in the latter. These findings demonstrate how institutions and historical contexts of inter-group relations can affect ethnic prejudice and discrimination.

This paper deals with a model of economic growth, which we expand to include endogenous policy switching based on retrospective voting. It is shown that under certain conditions the solution has a special form that we call a cyclically balanced growth path. This type of solution is an analogue to balanced growth paths, which often occur in growth models with constant policies. Cyclically balanced growth paths are investigated analytically, and the growth rate over the cycle has been found. Results of numerical experiments are also provided and possible empirical applications of the model are outlined.

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There have been numerous studies concerning productivity, representing two general approaches toward measuring the concept. Parametric approaches specify the actual form of the production function based on theoretical assumptions, while non-parametric approaches use empirical best-practice cases as a benchmark for productivity measures. We propose a new approach to obtain cross-country total factor productivity estimates and a method to derive the production function, which builds on empirical data and does not require a priori assumptions about its functional specification. The approach is based on radial model of data envelopment analysis. The obtained TFP estimates are validated through comparing to PWT and UNIDO datasets. Some preliminary analysis is also provided concerning application of the TFP estimates to cross-country divergence/convergence in productivity. We also demonstrate the potential utility of the estimates for political science research.

This paper reveals the relationship between the improvement in human diet and the transition to democracy. The spread of a 'European diet' with a historically unprecedented high proportion of animal protein in the daily calorie intake is considered one of the factors of regime change since 1992. In contrast to other studies, I regard European diet as an outcome of a long historical transformation and show that an improvement in nutrition preceded regime change. Data on nutrient consumption around the world are from the Food balance sheet data from FAOSTAT. Based on this data I was able to define a European diet as containing animal-protein rich items (mostly, meat and dairy), alcohol beverages and sugar. Using OLS, factor analysis and SEM, the direct and indirect effects of the European diet on the chance of a transition to democracy were tested. The findings reveal that an improvement in diet affects regime change, but not vice versa.