In this episode we chat with Raul Sanchez de la Sierra about his paper “On the Origins of the State: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo’”. Raul, in his paper, finds that armed actors may create “essential functions of a state” to better expropriate, which, depending on their goals, can increase welfare.

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1086/703989

Learn more about Raul: https://raulsanchezdelasierra.com/

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