Books by Michael (University of Chicago) Albertus

Incomplete rural property rights are endemic throughout most of the developing world. This book explores the political origins of this lack of rights and how it negatively impacts rural autonomy and development outcomes such as economic growth, inequality, urbanization, education, and the links between political parties and voters.

This Element challenges existing models and introduces an alternative, supply-side, and state-centered theory of coercive distribution. It illustrates the patterns, timing, and breadth of coercive distribution using quantitative evidence and historical case studies. Distribution is found to be one of coercion's most effective expressions.

This book explores the origins of democracy and the impact that autocratic legacies have after democratization. It examines why those who benefited under the previous dictatorship continue to do so after they step down from power. It therefore addresses longstanding questions that have appeal to academic, policy, and lay audiences.

This book shows that land redistribution - the most consequential form of redistribution in the developing world - occurs more often under dictatorship than democracy. It offers a novel theory of land reform and tests it using extensive original data dating back to 1900.