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The African tragedy: the effect of democracy on economic growth

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  • Saeed Khodaverdian

    (University of Hamburg)

Abstract

We estimate the effect of democracy on economic growth for the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in comparison with other countries. We find that in contrast to other countries, democracy in Africa benefits neither GDP per capita nor total GDP. We explain the former by changes in the size of the population and the latter by changes in the age structure of the population. Both demographic changes relate to the finding that unlike in other countries, democracy does not reduce child mortality in Africa. The evidence suggests that without improvements in health, democracy puts Africa on a path toward a Malthusian trap.

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  • Saeed Khodaverdian, 2022. "The African tragedy: the effect of democracy on economic growth," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1147-1175, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:62:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s00181-021-02049-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-021-02049-9
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Ojong, Nathanael, 2024. "Heterogeneous Effects of Frontier Technology Readiness on Economic Growth in Africa," MPRA Paper 121247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Hosein Mohammadi & Flavio Boccia & Amirhossein Tohidi, 2023. "The Relationship between Democracy and Economic Growth in the Path of Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Vezzulli, Andrea, 2024. "Heterogeneous Effects of Frontier Technology Readiness on Economic Growth in Africa," MPRA Paper 121246, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Vezzulli, Andrea, 2024. "Heterogeneous Effects of Frontier Technology Readiness on Economic Growth in Africa," EconStor Preprints 298787, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Houda Badri & Saïd Souam, 2022. "Inequality, education and democracy in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(4), pages 2010-2023.

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