Often regarded as a phenomenon of earlier times and backward places, vote buying has made an impressive comeback in recent decades - primarily as a by-product of democratization. ""Elections for Sale"" offers the first comprehensive analysis of this widespread but ill-understood practice. The authors systematically explore a series of key questions: What exactly is vote buying? What are its underlying causes? Why does it occur in some places, but not in others? How does it affect political and economic development? Can it be educated or legislated away? Their work presents new theoretical insights, as well as fresh empirical evidence from Asia and Latin America. The first comprehensive, systematic analysis of the widespread but ill-understood practice of vote buying.

Frederic Charles Schaffer is lecturer on social studies at Harvard University and research associate of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is author of Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture.