Income and colonial legal origin shape how fragmented states adopt presidentialism

Evidence

Table 3 repeats a similar analysis for presidential regimes. If we do not control for income, the effect of all measures of fragmentation is strong and highly significant. When we control for income the effect of fractionalization becomes weaker and in some specification looses significance at standard con- fidence levels. Note how former colonies, relative to non colonies tend to be more presidential and how French and Socialist legal origin are associated with more presidentialism than the omitted variable, Anglo Saxon legal origin. — Philippe Aghion, Alberto Alesina, and Francesco Trebbi, Endogenous Political Institutions, 174

Categorization

• XREF: Legal-origin effects on institutions connect to La Porta et al. and the French-civil-law-versus-common-law debates.