The Economics of Bribery and Assassination

Ben Olken posits that:

A country is “more likely to see democratization follow­ing the assassination(death) of an autocratic leader,” but found no substantial “effect following assassinations—or assassination attempts—on democratic leaders.” They(Olken and Ben Jones, an economist at Northwestern,) concluded that “on average, successful assassinations of autocrats produce sustained moves toward democracy.”... results suggest,” they write, “that individual leaders can play crucial roles in shap­ing the growth of nations,” provided they are ruling with minimal or nonexistent checks and balances to their power (think Augusto Pinochet or Robert Mugabe).