IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-08o00006.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Theory and evidence on economic freedom and economic growth: A comment

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua Hall

    (Beloit College)

  • Robert Lawson

    (Auburn University)

Abstract

Altman (2007) examines the impact of economic freedom, including its various component parts, on aggregate economic performance across countries. He claims that some of the component parts of economic freedom, measured primarily with the Economic Freedom of the World index, are correlated positively with higher levels of per capita income and growth while others are not. He also attempts to identify "threshold effects" within the data that indicate differential impacts of economic freedom on economic performance at different levels. Although both questions are worthwhile, ultimately his efforts are unconvincing for both theoretical and empirical reasons which we discuss.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua Hall & Robert Lawson, 2008. "Theory and evidence on economic freedom and economic growth: A comment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(18), pages 1-6.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-08o00006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/pubs/EB/2008/Volume15/EB-08O00006A.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jakob De Haan & Susanna Lundström & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Market‐oriented institutions and policies and economic growth: A critical survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 157-191, April.
    2. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    3. Morris Altman, 2008. "How much economic freedom is necessary for economic growth? Theory and evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20.
    4. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    5. Peter H. Lindert, 2003. "Why the Welfare State Looks Like a Free Lunch," NBER Working Papers 9869, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Jac C. Heckelman, 2000. "Economic Freedom and Economic Growth: A Short-Run Causal Investigation," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 71-91, May.
    7. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    8. Dawson, John W., 2003. "Causality in the freedom-growth relationship," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 479-495, September.
    9. Niclas Berggren & Henrik Jordahl, 2006. "Free to Trust: Economic Freedom and Social Capital," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 141-169, May.
    10. Andreas Bergh, 2006. "Is the Swedish Welfare State A Free Lunch?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(2), pages 210-235, May.
    11. Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Apostolis Philippopoulos & Efthymios Tsionas, 2008. "Does public sector efficiency matter? Revisiting the relation between fiscal size and economic growth in a world sample," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 245-278, October.
    12. repec:bla:kyklos:v:53:y:2000:i:4:p:527-44 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Peter H. Lindert, 2003. "Why the Welfare State Looks Like a Free Lunch," NBER Working Papers 9869, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Robert A. Lawson, 2006. "On Testing the Connection Between Economic Freedom and Growth," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 3(3), pages 398-406, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olalekan C. Okunlola & Olumide A. Ayetigbo & Sam O. Ajiye, 2022. "Does a free market system reduce conflict in Africa?," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(1), pages 147-170, June.
    2. Tudorel ANDREI & Ani MATEI & Ion Gh. ROSCA, 2009. "The Corruption - An Economic and Social Analysis," Economics Books, The Economica Publishing House, edition 1, volume 1, number 03, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2008:i:18:p:1-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. John W. Dawson, 2007. "The Empirical Institutions-Growth Literature: Is Something Amiss at the Top?," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 4(2), pages 184-196, May.
    3. Falguni Pattanaik & Narayan Nayak, 2014. "Economic freedom and economic growth in India: What is the empirical relationship?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 275-298, November.
    4. Aslý YENÝPAZARLI, 2017. "Economic freedom and effects on economic growth: A time series analysis for Turkey," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 345-351, September.
    5. Hatice KÜÇÜKKAYA, 2017. "EUREFE’17 International Conference," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 343-344, September.
    6. Judit Kapás & Pál Czeglédi, 2017. "Institutions and policies of economic freedom: different effects on income and growth," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(2), pages 259-282, August.
    7. Bernur Acikgoz & Anthony Amoah Author-Email: a.amoah@uea.ac.uk & Mine Yılmazer, 2016. "Economic Freedom and Growth: A Panel Cointegration Approach," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(5), pages 541-562, December.
    8. Burcu ŞENALP, 2018. "Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Growth and Economic Freedom: A Literature Survey," Istanbul Journal of Economics-Istanbul Iktisat Dergisi, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 68(2), pages 301-336, December.
    9. Daniel Oto Peralías & Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2012. "Tracing the Link between Government Size and Growth: The Role of Public Sector Quality," EcoMod2012 4015, EcoMod.
    10. Tanin, Tauhidul Islam & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Does economic freedom lead or lag economic growth? evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 79446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Dawson, John W. & Sturgill, Brad, 2022. "Market Institutions and Factor Shares Across Countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 266-289.
    12. Bennett, Daniel L. & Faria, Hugo J. & Gwartney, James D. & Morales, Daniel R., 2017. "Economic Institutions and Comparative Economic Development: A Post-Colonial Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 503-519.
    13. Martin Rode & Sebastian Coll, 2012. "Economic freedom and growth. Which policies matter the most?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 95-133, June.
    14. Gordon Anderson & Kinda Hachem, 2009. "Institutions and Economic Outcomes: A Dominance Based Analysis of Causality and Multivariate Welfare With Discrete and Continuous Variables," Working Papers tecipa-378, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    15. Slesman, Ly & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Ra'ees, Wahabuddin, 2015. "Institutional infrastructure and economic growth in member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 214-226.
    16. Jac C. Heckelman & Stephen Knack, 2008. "Foreign Aid and Market‐Liberalizing Reform," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(299), pages 524-548, August.
    17. Judit Kapás & Pál Czeglédi, 2007. "Economic Freedom: Theory First, Empiricism After," ICER Working Papers 10-2007, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    18. Heinz Handler & Andreas Knabe & Bertrand Koebel & Margit Schratzenstaller-Altzinger & Sven Wehke, 2005. "The Impact of Public Budgets on Overall Productivity Growth," WIFO Working Papers 255, WIFO.
    19. Henryk Gurgul & Łukasz Lach, 2011. "The Nexus between Improvements in Economic Freedom and Growth: Evidence from CEE Countries in Transition," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 3(3), pages 133-168, September.
    20. Dawid Piątek & Katarzyna Sarzec, 2009. "Państwo a dobrobyt ekonomiczny - między wolnością a przymusem," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5-6, pages 1-19.
    21. Justesen, Mogens K., 2008. "The effect of economic freedom on growth revisited: New evidence on causality from a panel of countries 1970-1999," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 642-660, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic freedom;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-08o00006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.