AUTOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
GEORGY EGOROV
COMMENTS BY MICHAEL ROCHLITZ
MARCH 2, 2023

View the webinar here.
(Also accessible here on YouTube.)

What rules of the game do autocrats live by? Georgy Egorov examines various types of autocratic regimes and the institutions - the rules of the game - they all must deal with. The games they face are of three kinds: legacies, games that autocrats play, and games that autocrats design. Egorov emphasizes that what all autocrats have in common as their fundamental driver is their fear of losing power. He then examines some implications of this for two specific institutions: succession - a game that autocrats play, and censorship - a game that autocrats design. He models these games and relates them to real world phenomena.

Following Egorov's presentation, Michael Rochlitz offers comments and new empirical evidence related to the heterogeneity of economic outcomes across autocracies. Questions from the audience conclude the session.

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  Georgy Egorov

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  Michael Rochlitz

About the Speakers

Georg Egorov is James Farley/Booz, Allen & Hamilton Research Professor, and Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He is an alumnus of the Ronald Coase Institute and has been a faculty member in its webworkshops and a presenter at its panels.
His research interests include political economy of democracies and non-democracies, dynamics of institutions, culture, and topics in economic theory. He is currently working on questions related to weak institutions and their dynamics, interaction between market and non-market actors in business environments, and social image considerations in strategic decisions. His papers have been published in leading journals, including Econometrica, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, and American Political Science Review.

Michael Rochlitz is Professor of Institutional Economics at the Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, University of Bremen. He is also associate fellow at the Center for the Study of Institutions and Development at HSE Moscow. He is an alumnus of the Ronald Coase Institute and has been a presenter at its panels. His research investigates the interrelation between political institutions, economic development, and societal change, with a regional focus on Russia, the former Soviet Union, and China. His work has been published in leading journals in economics, political economy, comparative political systems, post-Soviet and Russian studies, and more. HIs interests include institutional, industrial, and development economics, comparative political economy, game theory, Russian and Chinese economics, politics of memory, and quantitative research methods.