Prof. Stanley Winer, Ph.D.

Franchise Extension and Fiscal Redistribution

Stanley Winer is investigating the causal relationship between the extension of the franchise in nineteenth century England (the Reform Acts) and fiscal redistribution as represented by various aspects of the fiscal system. The methodology employed involves a search for the presence or absence of structural breaks in conditional and marginal distributions that are estimated using the histories of the franchise and fiscal policy instruments for the 1820 to 1913 period, and then the use of this information to reach (statistically based) logical conclusions about causality.

Stanley Winer’s research deals with the meaning, measurement and consequences of political competitiveness, with applications to the United States Senate (1921–2004), the Canadian Parliament (1867–2015) and Indian states (from Independence). Political competition is regarded as a multidimensional phenomenon that continually evolves and varies in intensity across space and time. His work is leading to the construction of a set of indexes of competitiveness at the district and national levels that are then used to model selected aspects of public policy.

While visiting CES, Mr Winer will deliver three CES Lectures on “Political Competition: Meaning, Measurement, Consequences”.

Stanley Winer is Canada Research Chair Professor in Public Policy in the School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Economics, Carleton University, Ottawa, and Chair of the Editorial Board of the Carleton Library Series. He was the Fulbright-Duke University Visiting Chair in 2003. His work includes Coercion and Social Welfare in Public Finance, co-edited with Jorge Martinez-Vazquez for Cambridge University Press (2014), and Democratic Choice and Taxation, co-authored with Walter Hettich, also for CUP (1999). His book with Kathleen Day, Interregional Migration and Public Policy in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012) was awarded the Purvis Memorial Prize from the Canadian Economics Association. Stanley Winer is a CESifo Research Network Fellow and holds MA and PhD degrees in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University.