growth effect of democracy
Subtitle: is it heterogenous and how can it be estimated?
By: Torsten Persson, Guido Tabellini.
Contributors: Tabellini, Guido Enrico, 1956-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 13150.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13150.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 30
Subjects: Democracy -- Economic aspects; Economic development -- Econometric models; Macroeconomics
Description: "We estimate the effect of political regime transitions on growth with semi-parametric methods, combining difference in differences with matching, that have not been used in macroeconomic settings. Our semi-parametric estimates suggest that previous parametric estimates may have seriously underestimated the growth effects of democracy. In particular, we find an average negative effect on growth of leaving democracy on the order of -2 percentage points implying effects on income per capita as large as 45 percent over the 1960-2000 panel. Heterogenous characteristics of reforming and non-reforming countries appear to play an important role in driving these results."--abstract.
Notes: "June 2007."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-30).

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).