Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

1-2023

Abstract

Is democracy a better political regime for economic prosperity than autocracy? This paper shows that the answer depends on the initial economic development level during the democratic transition when the foundation of institutions was laid. Democracy facilitates growth only in countries that already have adequate development at transition time. These countries are more likely to create and sustain growth-enhancing institutions than others. Without appropriate development, democracy does not improve growth; this applies to about 40% of the third-wave democratized countries. These results are based on a sample of 153 countries in 1960–2010 and robust to various specifications and endogeneity issues.

Keywords

Democracy, Growth, Economic Development, Institutions, Critical Juncture, Democratization, Modernization, Human Capital

Discipline

Growth and Development | Political Economy

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

European Journal of Political Economy

First Page

1

Last Page

20

ISSN

0176-2680

Identifier

10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102355

Publisher

Elsevier: 24 months

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102355

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