Marina Nistotskaya
Biographic Data
| ID | 232843 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marina Nistotskaya |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marina |
| FAMILY NAME | Nistotskaya |
| SIGNATURE | NISTOTSKAYA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gothenburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7747-7662 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 154 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Scientific and Local Knowledge in Donor Anti-Corruption Efforts: The Case of Sida
Donor organizations engaged in anti-corruption efforts navigate between research-based and context-responsive approaches, each grounded in distinct forms of knowledge—scientific and local—and each claiming strong potential to reduce corruption. Yet it remains insufficiently understood which types of knowledge development professionals draw on most frequently, and how these practices relate to the perceived anti-corruption potential of supported p…
Legal Clarity and the Rule of Law: A Global Experimental Study of Consistency in Administrative Decision‐Making
Laws often contain linguistically complex features that increase cognitive processing demands and weaken comprehension. We extend this argument to bureaucratic decision‐making by proposing that reduced legal clarity decreases the consistency of administrative decisions. We test this argument using an online survey experiment with nearly 900 current and former government officials from 33 countries, who were randomly assigned to adjudicate a real …
Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel
A taxing issue: The constraining effects of historical state capacity on European property taxes today
Property tax regimes in European states vary in design, yield and progressivity, but the sources of variation have been understudied. Through inductive process tracing of two diverse cases, the UK and Sweden, this paper explores the impact of the state's capacity to value property. It finds that, in Sweden, routine and regular property valuation was historically institutionalized. This enabled a progressive property tax regime until house prices …
Competition and service quality: Evidence from Swedish residential care homes
Against a backdrop of increased levels of marketization of welfare services in OECD countries, this article aims to shed light on the separate effects of private ownership and competition for the market on service quality. Using residential elder care homes in Sweden as our case, we leverage unique panel data of ownership and competition against a set of indicators, pertaining to the structure, process, and outcome dimensions of care quality. The…
Intensified local grievances, enduring national control: The politics of land in the 2017 Kenyan elections
Constitutional provisions for devolution and land reform sought to address local land grievances and decentralize land administration in ways that would prevent conflict. The article argues that partial implementation of this agenda has intensified local grievances in a context of enduring national control over land administration. Local grievances have intensified as devolution has empowered majority communities and stoked their attachment to ho…
Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services
This article investigates the relationships between outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality (BPQ) and citizen satisfaction with public services. Our baseline expectation is of a negative association between outsourcing and service quality; however, we argue that this tendency can be counteracted when the government buyer has a more competent and motivated personnel, not only in managerial positions, but across the board. Better‐educated and p…
The early modern origins of contemporary European tax outcomes
What explains variation in tax outcomes between European states? Previous studies emphasise the role played by political institutions, but focus mostly on the input side of politics – how access to power and policy making is structured – and the institutions of relatively recent times. It is argued in this article that output‐side institutions related to the implementation of political decisions also matter and have deep institutional origins. As…
The quality of government determinants of support for democracy
This paper argues that in addition to “what democracies do,” “how democracies do it” produces an independent source of support for democracy. We argue that a high procedural quality of bureaucracy may promote support for democracy by diminishing the likelihood of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance between democracy as an ideal and the experienced. Furthermore, we expect the beneficial impact of a higher quality of government (QoG) to be more …
State First, Then Democracy: Using Cadastral Records to Explain Governmental Performance in Public Goods Provision
This article presents a theoretical argument of how and why democratization at different levels of state capacity matters for public goods provision and subjects the argument to empirical tests. Building on rational choice theories of public goods production, we argue that credible enforcement before credible commitment—democratizing after the state has acquired high levels of state capacity—leads to a more efficient social order than the opposit…
Bureaucratic Structure, Regulatory Quality, and Entrepreneurship in a Comparative Perspective: Cross-Sectional and Panel Data Evidence
The article examines the effect of meritocratic recruitment and tenure protection in public bureaucracies on regulatory quality and business entry rates in a global sample. Utilizing a cross-country measure on the extent of meritocratic entry to bureaucracy and a time-series indicator of tenure protection, it subjects theoretical claims that these features improve the epistemic qualities of bureaucracies and also serve as a credible commitment de…
To the Short‐Sighted Victor Belong the Spoils: Politics and Merit Adoption in Comparative Perspective
This article addresses a persistent puzzle in social science: Why do some rulers adopt merit systems, refusing to enjoy the spoils of their victories? Dominant explanations underscore the importance of interactions among core constituencies of voters, legislators, and executives in a democratic polity but cannot explain the adoption of merit in autocracies and are not corroborated empirically outside Anglo‐Saxon democracies. Based on insights fro…
Bureaucratic Structure, Regulatory Quality, and Entrepreneurship in a Comparative Perspective: Cross-Sectional and Panel Data Evidence
The article examines the effect of meritocratic recruitment and tenure protection in public bureaucracies on regulatory quality and business entry rates in a global sample. Utilizing a cross-country measure on the extent of meritocratic entry to bureaucracy and a time-series indicator of tenure protection, it subjects theoretical claims that these features improve the epistemic qualities of bureaucracies and also serve as a credible commitment de…
State First, Then Democracy: Using Cadastral Records to Explain Governmental Performance in Public Goods Provision
This article presents a theoretical argument of how and why democratization at different levels of state capacity matters for public goods provision and subjects the argument to empirical tests. Building on rational choice theories of public goods production, we argue that credible enforcement before credible commitment—democratizing after the state has acquired high levels of state capacity—leads to a more efficient social order than the opposit…
To the Short‐Sighted Victor Belong the Spoils: Politics and Merit Adoption in Comparative Perspective
This article addresses a persistent puzzle in social science: Why do some rulers adopt merit systems, refusing to enjoy the spoils of their victories? Dominant explanations underscore the importance of interactions among core constituencies of voters, legislators, and executives in a democratic polity but cannot explain the adoption of merit in autocracies and are not corroborated empirically outside Anglo‐Saxon democracies. Based on insights fro…
Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services
This article investigates the relationships between outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality (BPQ) and citizen satisfaction with public services. Our baseline expectation is of a negative association between outsourcing and service quality; however, we argue that this tendency can be counteracted when the government buyer has a more competent and motivated personnel, not only in managerial positions, but across the board. Better‐educated and p…
The early modern origins of contemporary European tax outcomes
What explains variation in tax outcomes between European states? Previous studies emphasise the role played by political institutions, but focus mostly on the input side of politics – how access to power and policy making is structured – and the institutions of relatively recent times. It is argued in this article that output‐side institutions related to the implementation of political decisions also matter and have deep institutional origins. As…
The quality of government determinants of support for democracy
This paper argues that in addition to “what democracies do,” “how democracies do it” produces an independent source of support for democracy. We argue that a high procedural quality of bureaucracy may promote support for democracy by diminishing the likelihood of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance between democracy as an ideal and the experienced. Furthermore, we expect the beneficial impact of a higher quality of government (QoG) to be more …
Intensified local grievances, enduring national control: The politics of land in the 2017 Kenyan elections
Constitutional provisions for devolution and land reform sought to address local land grievances and decentralize land administration in ways that would prevent conflict. The article argues that partial implementation of this agenda has intensified local grievances in a context of enduring national control over land administration. Local grievances have intensified as devolution has empowered majority communities and stoked their attachment to ho…
Competition and service quality: Evidence from Swedish residential care homes
Against a backdrop of increased levels of marketization of welfare services in OECD countries, this article aims to shed light on the separate effects of private ownership and competition for the market on service quality. Using residential elder care homes in Sweden as our case, we leverage unique panel data of ownership and competition against a set of indicators, pertaining to the structure, process, and outcome dimensions of care quality. The…
Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel
A taxing issue: The constraining effects of historical state capacity on European property taxes today
Property tax regimes in European states vary in design, yield and progressivity, but the sources of variation have been understudied. Through inductive process tracing of two diverse cases, the UK and Sweden, this paper explores the impact of the state's capacity to value property. It finds that, in Sweden, routine and regular property valuation was historically institutionalized. This enabled a progressive property tax regime until house prices …
To the Short‐Sighted Victor Belong the Spoils: Politics and Merit Adoption in Comparative Perspective
This article addresses a persistent puzzle in social science: Why do some rulers adopt merit systems, refusing to enjoy the spoils of their victories? Dominant explanations underscore the importance of interactions among core constituencies of voters, legislators, and executives in a democratic polity but cannot explain the adoption of merit in autocracies and are not corroborated empirically outside Anglo‐Saxon democracies. Based on insights fro…
Bureaucratic Structure, Regulatory Quality, and Entrepreneurship in a Comparative Perspective: Cross-Sectional and Panel Data Evidence
The article examines the effect of meritocratic recruitment and tenure protection in public bureaucracies on regulatory quality and business entry rates in a global sample. Utilizing a cross-country measure on the extent of meritocratic entry to bureaucracy and a time-series indicator of tenure protection, it subjects theoretical claims that these features improve the epistemic qualities of bureaucracies and also serve as a credible commitment de…
The quality of government determinants of support for democracy
This paper argues that in addition to “what democracies do,” “how democracies do it” produces an independent source of support for democracy. We argue that a high procedural quality of bureaucracy may promote support for democracy by diminishing the likelihood of the occurrence of cognitive dissonance between democracy as an ideal and the experienced. Furthermore, we expect the beneficial impact of a higher quality of government (QoG) to be more …
State First, Then Democracy: Using Cadastral Records to Explain Governmental Performance in Public Goods Provision
This article presents a theoretical argument of how and why democratization at different levels of state capacity matters for public goods provision and subjects the argument to empirical tests. Building on rational choice theories of public goods production, we argue that credible enforcement before credible commitment—democratizing after the state has acquired high levels of state capacity—leads to a more efficient social order than the opposit…
Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services
This article investigates the relationships between outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality (BPQ) and citizen satisfaction with public services. Our baseline expectation is of a negative association between outsourcing and service quality; however, we argue that this tendency can be counteracted when the government buyer has a more competent and motivated personnel, not only in managerial positions, but across the board. Better‐educated and p…
The early modern origins of contemporary European tax outcomes
What explains variation in tax outcomes between European states? Previous studies emphasise the role played by political institutions, but focus mostly on the input side of politics – how access to power and policy making is structured – and the institutions of relatively recent times. It is argued in this article that output‐side institutions related to the implementation of political decisions also matter and have deep institutional origins. As…
Intensified local grievances, enduring national control: The politics of land in the 2017 Kenyan elections
Constitutional provisions for devolution and land reform sought to address local land grievances and decentralize land administration in ways that would prevent conflict. The article argues that partial implementation of this agenda has intensified local grievances in a context of enduring national control over land administration. Local grievances have intensified as devolution has empowered majority communities and stoked their attachment to ho…
Competition and service quality: Evidence from Swedish residential care homes
Against a backdrop of increased levels of marketization of welfare services in OECD countries, this article aims to shed light on the separate effects of private ownership and competition for the market on service quality. Using residential elder care homes in Sweden as our case, we leverage unique panel data of ownership and competition against a set of indicators, pertaining to the structure, process, and outcome dimensions of care quality. The…
A taxing issue: The constraining effects of historical state capacity on European property taxes today
Property tax regimes in European states vary in design, yield and progressivity, but the sources of variation have been understudied. Through inductive process tracing of two diverse cases, the UK and Sweden, this paper explores the impact of the state's capacity to value property. It finds that, in Sweden, routine and regular property valuation was historically institutionalized. This enabled a progressive property tax regime until house prices …
Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Long-Run Cross-Country Panel
Scientific and Local Knowledge in Donor Anti-Corruption Efforts: The Case of Sida
Donor organizations engaged in anti-corruption efforts navigate between research-based and context-responsive approaches, each grounded in distinct forms of knowledge—scientific and local—and each claiming strong potential to reduce corruption. Yet it remains insufficiently understood which types of knowledge development professionals draw on most frequently, and how these practices relate to the perceived anti-corruption potential of supported p…
Legal Clarity and the Rule of Law: A Global Experimental Study of Consistency in Administrative Decision‐Making
Laws often contain linguistically complex features that increase cognitive processing demands and weaken comprehension. We extend this argument to bureaucratic decision‐making by proposing that reduced legal clarity decreases the consistency of administrative decisions. We test this argument using an online survey experiment with nearly 900 current and former government officials from 33 countries, who were randomly assigned to adjudicate a real …
Political science (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Public economics (5 works) · Bureaucracy (4 works) · Quality (philosophy (4 works) · Business (3 works) · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies (3 works)