Affiliation:
1. Crawford School of Economics and Government, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia.
2. Research School of Economics, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia.
Abstract
Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963–2007, we examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, we use variation in precipitation, temperatures, and commodity prices as instruments for a country's rate of economic growth. Our results indicate that more rapid economic growth reduces the short-run likelihood of institutional change toward democracy. Output contractions due to adverse weather shocks appear to have a particularly important impact on the timing of democratic change. (JEL D72, E23, E32, O11, O17, O47)
Publisher
American Economic Association
Subject
General Economics, Econometrics and Finance
Cited by
90 articles.
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