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Institutional Changes Now And Benefits Tomorrow: How Soon Is Tomorrow?

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  • PIERRE‐GUILLAUME MÉON
  • KHALID SEKKAT
  • LAURENT WEILL

Abstract

This paper investigates the timing of the impact of changes in checks and balances on macroeconomic efficiency in a panel of countries. Using Battese and Coelli's one‐stage approach, we find that increasing checks and balances results in greater efficiency. Furthermore, the impact of institutional changes on efficiency is delayed, with a full effect showing after five to six years. This finding remains robust after distinguishing developed and developing countries, including country‐fixed effects and using alternative functional forms of the production frontier and alternative measures of checks and balances. The relation is also robust to controlling for endogeneity.

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  • Pierre‐Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat & Laurent Weill, 2009. "Institutional Changes Now And Benefits Tomorrow: How Soon Is Tomorrow?," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 319-357, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecopol:v:21:y:2009:i:2:p:319-357
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0343.2009.00351.x
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    4. Axel Dreher & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Friedrich Schneider, 2014. "The devil is in the shadow: Do institutions affect income and productivity or only official income and official productivity?," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 158(1-2), pages 121-141, January.
    5. Marin Ferry, 2019. "The carrot and stick approach to debt relief: overcoming moral hazard," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 28(3), pages 252-276.
    6. Hans Pitlik, 2017. "Österreich 2025 – Verwaltungsreform zwischen Effizienzstreben und Reformwiderständen. Ein Überblick," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 90(3), pages 205-217, March.
    7. Christian Bjørnskov & Pierre-Guillaume Méon, 2015. "The productivity of trust," Post-Print CEB, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, June.
    8. Khoury, Theodore A. & Peng, Mike W., 2011. "Does institutional reform of intellectual property rights lead to more inbound FDI? Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 337-345, July.
    9. Gheeraert, Laurent & Weill, Laurent, 2015. "Does Islamic banking development favor macroeconomic efficiency? Evidence on the Islamic finance-growth nexus," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 32-39.
    10. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Weill, Laurent, 2010. "Does financial intermediation matter for macroeconomic performance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 296-303, January.
    11. Méon, Pierre-Guillaume & Sekkat, Khalid, 2022. "A time to throw stones, a time to reap: how long does it take for democratic transitions to improve institutional outcomes?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 429-443, June.
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    13. Berggren, Niclas & Bergh, Andreas & Bjørnskov, Christian, 2012. "The growth effects of institutional instability," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 187-224, June.

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