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Democracy and Reforms: Evidence from a New Dataset

Author

Listed:
  • Paola Giuliano

    (UCLA, NBER, CEPR and IZA)

  • Prachi Mishra

    (IMF)

  • Antonio Spilimbergo

    (IMF, CEPR, and WDI)

Abstract

Empirical evidence on the relationship between democracy and economic reforms is limited to few reforms, countries, and years. This paper studies the impact of democracy on the adoption of economic reforms using a new dataset on reforms in the financial, capital and banking sectors, product markets, agriculture, and trade for 150 countries over the period 1960-2004. Democracy has a positive and significant impact on the adoption of economic reforms but there is no evidence that economic reforms foster democracy. Our results are robust to the inclusion of a large variety of controls and estimation strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Paola Giuliano & Prachi Mishra & Antonio Spilimbergo, 2011. "Democracy and Reforms: Evidence from a New Dataset," CARF F-Series CARF-F-247, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    • Handle: RePEc:cfi:fseres:cf247
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    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

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