The Market and the State: The Politics of Property Rights and Economic Exclusion

The Social Change Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University presents a Brown Bag Lecture by Thomas Flores of the University of Michigan Department of Political Science on “The Market and the State: The Politics of Property Rights and Economic Exclusion”

 
Why have some countries created and maintained better institutions for protecting private property rights than others? Why do particular groups of citizens persistently report far lower confidence in the legal security of their property rights than other groups? How and why does this variation in citizens’ confidence in legal protection itself vary systematically across countries? Mr. Flores believes the answer to these questions often lies in political leaders efforts to funnel gains from economic activity to themselves and politically important allies.

 
Thomas Flores is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan and holds a BA from Harvard University. His research focuses on the effect of political institutions on economic performance, security challenges in developing countries, and the politics of Latin America.