Written by Darin Christensen (University of California Los Angeles) and Francisco Garfias (University of California San Diego), this chapter explores the following questions:

– How do political economists build and analyze models of political and policy choices?
– Why do commitment problems discourage trade and investment?
– How does centralized authority help to solve these problems?
– Why do checks on government power promote investment?
– How does economic development affect political institutions?
– How do economic factors affect citizens’ capacity to demand political reform?
– What other topics can we study as commitment problems?
– What other models can we use to study politics?