Abstract
The present paper is aimed to estimate an econometric model whereby the interrelationship between democracy and economic growth can be thoroughly investigated. For this purpose, dynamic simultaneous-equation panel data models have been applied to 12 MENA countries studied over the period 1998–2011. The reached empirical results have revealed that a bi-directional causal relationship appears to persist between democracy and economic growth.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Oman
A special report of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Africa (CESA): “Africa and the Arab Spring: A new era of democratic hopes.” November (2011)
References
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2005). Economic origins of dictatorship and democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, A. (2006). Economic origins of dictatorship and democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J. A., & Yared, P. (2008). Income and democracy. American Economic Review, 98(3), 808–842.
Acemoglu, D., Suresh Naidu, Pascual Restrepo., Robinson, A., (2013). Democracy, redistribution and inequality, NBER Working Paper No. 19746.
Alesina, A., & Perotti, R. (1994). The political economy of budget deficits (No. w4637). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Alesina, A., & Rodrik, D. (1994). Distributive politics and economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 109, 465–49.
Anwar, S., & Sun, S. (2011). Financial development, foreign investment and economic growth in Malaysia. Journal Asian Econ, 22, 335–342.
Avnimelech, G., Zelekha, Y., & Sarabi, E. (2011). The effect of corruption on entrepreneurship. Copenhagen Business School, URL: http://druid8.sit.aau.dk/acc_papers/1944qlhkqrqpnsq5gmkf4yvuy4m2.pdf (вход свободный, дата обращения 01.02. 2015).
Baba, S. A. (1997). Democracies and Inefficiency. Economics and Politics, 9, 99–114.
Barro, R. J. (1991). A cross-country study of growth, saving, and government. In National saving and economic performance (pp. 271–304). University of Chicago Press.
Barro, R. J. (1997). Determinants of economic growth: a cross-country empirical study. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Barro, R. J. (1999). Determinants of democracy. Journal of Political Economy, 107, 158–183.
Bashir, A. H. (2001). Foreign direct investment and economic growth in some MENA countries: Theory and evidence mimeo. www.luc.edu/orgs/meea/volume1/bashir.pdf.
Benabou, R. (1996). Inequality and growth. In S. Ben, Bernanke, & R. Julio (Eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1996 (pp. 11–74). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Benhabib, Jess, Corvalan, Alejandro, Spiegel, Mark M., (2011). Reestablishing the income-democracy nexus. NBER Working Paper 16832.
Besley, T. F., & Coate, S. T. (1998). Sources of inefficiency in a representative democracy: a dynamic analysis. American Economic Review, 88, 139–156.
Blackburn, K., Neanidis, K. C., & Haque, M. E. (2008). Corruption, seigniorage and growth: Theory and Evidence. Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series, University of Manchester, No. 103.
Blomström, M., Kokko, A., & Zejan, M. (2000). Multinational corporations and productivity convergence in Mexico. Palgrave Macmillan, UK. doi:10.1057/9780230598614_9.
Boix, C. (2011). Democracy, development, and the international system. American Political Science Review, 105(4), 809–828.
Bollen, K. A. (1979). Political democracy and the timing of development. American Sociological Review, 44, 572–587.
Bollen, K. A., & Jackman, R. W. (1985). Economic and non economic determinants of political democracy in the 1960s. Research in Political Sociology, 1(27), 48.
Buchanan, J. M., & Tullock, G., (1971/1962). The Calculus of Consent, Logical Foundations of Constitutional- Democracy. Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press.
Booth, D. (2012). Development and a collective action problem: addressing the real challenges of African governance. London: Department for International Development.
Clague, C., Keefer, P., Knack, S., & Olson, M. (2003). Property and contract rights in autocracies and democracies. Democracy, governance and growth, 6, 136–180.
Diamond, L. (1992). Economic development and democracy reconsidered. The American Behavioral Scientist, 35(4), 450.
Epstein, D. L., Bates, R., Goldstone, J., Kristensen, I., & O’Halloran, S. (2006). Democratic transitions. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 551–569.
Fayad, Ghada, Robert H. Bates, Anke Hoeffler., (2012). Income and democracy: Lipset’s law revisited. IMF Working Paper 12/295. International Monetary Fund (Washington, D.C.).
Dzhumashev, R. (2009). Is there a direct effect of corruption on growth? MPRA Paper 18489, University Library of Munich, Germany.
Freeman, J. R., & Quinn, D. P. (2012). The economic origins of democracy reconsidered. American Political Science Review, 106(1), 58–80.
Freedom House (2011). Freedom in the world 2011: The authoritarian challenge to democracy. https://freedomhouse.org/article/freedom-world-2011-authoritarian-challenge-democracy.
Gasiorowski, M. J. (2000). Democracy and macroeconomic performance in underdeveloped countries: an empirical analysis. Comparative Political Studies, 33(3), 319–349.
Gerring, J., Bond, P., Barndt, W. T., & Moreno, C. (2005). Democracy and economic growth: a historical perspective. World Politics, 57(03), 323–364.
Glaeser, E., Ponzetto, G., & Shleifer, A. (2007). Why does democracy need education? Journal of Economic Growth, 12, 77–99.
Granados, J. A. T. (2010). Politics and health in eight European countries: a comparative study of mortality decline under social democracies and right-wing governments. Social science & medicine, 71(5), 841–850.
Haggard, S. (1990). Pathways from the periphery: The politics of growth in the newly industrializing countries. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Herwartz, H., & Niebuhr, A. (2011). Growth, unemployment and labor market institutions: evidence from a cross-section of EU regions. Applied Economics, 43(30), 4663–4676.
Heydemann, S.. (2007). Upgrading authoritarianism in the Arab World. Saban Center. Washington: The Brookings Institution Press.
Jong-A-Pin, R. (2009). On the measurement of political instability and its impact on economic growth. European Journal of Political Economy, 25, 15–29.
Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Zoido-Lobatón, P. (2000). Governance matters. Finance Dev, 37(2), 10.
Kelsall, T., & Booth, D. (2013). Business, politics, and the State in Africa: challenging the orthodoxies on growth and transformation. London: Zed Books.
King, A. (1981). What do elections decide? In D. Butler, H. R. Penniman, & A. Ranney (Eds.), Democracy at the Polls: A comparative study of competitive national elections. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute.
Kohli, A. (1986). Democracy and development. In J. P. Lewis, & V. Kallab (Eds.), Development strategies reconsidered. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
Lipset, S. M. (1959). Some social requisites for democracy: economic development and political legitimacy. American Political Science Review, 53, 69–105.
Lipsey, R. (1994). Outward direct investment and the U.S. economy, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper: 4691.
Lizzeri, A., & Persico, N. (2004). Why did the elites extend the suffrage? Democracy and the scope of government, with an application to Britain’s “Age of Reform”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(2), 707–765.
Mijiyawa, A. (2011). FDI inflows in Africa: trends, sources, and sectoral distribution. African Center for Economic Transformation.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Papaioannou, E., & Siourounis, G. (2008). Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization. Journal of comparative Economics, 36(3), 365–387.
Papaioannou, A., Kennedy, C. C., Ioannidis, G., Sawka, A., Hopman, W. M., & Pickard, L. (2008). The impact of incident fractures on health-related quality of life: 5 years of data from the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study. Osteoporosis International, 20(5), 703–714.
Peev, E., & Mueller, D. C. (2012). Democracy, economic freedom and growth in transition economies. Kyklos, 65(3), 371–407.
Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. (2006). Democratic capital: The nexus of political and economic change. NBER Working Paper 12175. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. (2009). Democratic capital: the nexus of political and economic change. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 1(2), 88–126.
Przeworski, A., Alvarez, M., Cheibub, J. A., & Limongi, F. (2000). Democracy and development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rao, A. (1985). Oppression in Punjab: A citizens for democracy report to the nation. Bombay: Hind Mazdoor Kisan Panchayat.
Saint-Paul, G., & Thierry, V. (1993). Education, democracy, and growth. Journal of Development Economics, 42, 399–407.
Schwarz, G. (1992). Democracy and market-oriented reform: A Love-Hate Relationship? Economic Education Bulletin, 32(5), 13–128.
Soltani, H., & Ochi, A. (2012). Foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth: an approach in terms of co integration for the case of Tunisia. Journal Appl Finance Bank, 2, 193–207.
Treisman, Daniel, (2011). Income, democracy, and the cunning of reason. NBER Working Paper 17132.
Wittman, D. (1989). Why democracies produce efficient results? Journal of Political Economy, 97, 1395–1424.
Wittman, D. (1995). The myth of democratic failure: why political institutions are efficient? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zak, P., & Feng, Y. (2003). A dynamic theory of the transition to democracy. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 52, 1–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baklouti, N., Boujelbene, Y. The Nexus Between Democracy and Economic Growth: Evidence from Dynamic Simultaneous-Equations Models. J Knowl Econ 9, 980–998 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-016-0380-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-016-0380-x