Emotions and Political Unrest

This paper formulates a general theory of how political unrest influencespublic policy. Political unrest is motivated by emotions. Individuals engage inprotests if they are aggrieved and feel that they have been treated unfairly.This reaction is predictable because individuals have a consistent view ofwhat is fair. This framework yields novel insights about the sources of politicalinfluence of different groups in society. Even if the government is benevolentand all groups have access to the same technology for political participation,equilibrium policy can be distorted. Individuals form their view of what is fairtaking into account the current state of the world. If fewer aggregate resourcesare available, individuals accept a lower level of welfare. This resignationeffect in turn induces a benevolent government to procrastinate unpleasantpolicy choices.[...