IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10880.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Relationship between Economic Growth and Democracy: Alternative Representations of Technological Change

Author

Listed:
  • Heshmati, Almas

    (Jönköping University)

  • Kim, Nam-Seok

    (Sogang University)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between economic growth and democracy by estimating a nation's production function specified as static and dynamic models using panel data. In estimating the production function, it applies a single time trend, multiple time trends and the general index formulations to the translog production function to capture time effects representing technological changes of unknown forms. In addition to the unknown forms, implementing the technology shifters model enabled this study to find possible known channels between economic growth and democracy. Empirical results based on a panel data of 144 countries observed for 1980–2014 show that democracy had a robust positive impact on economic growth. Credit guarantee is one of the most significant positive links between economic growth and democracy. The marginal effects of credit guarantee and foreign direct investment inflows are stronger in democratic countries than they are in non-democratic ones. In order to check the robustness of these results, a dynamic model constructed with a flexible adjustment speed and a target level of GDP is also tested. The results of this dynamic model also support the positive impacts of democracy on economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Heshmati, Almas & Kim, Nam-Seok, 2017. "The Relationship between Economic Growth and Democracy: Alternative Representations of Technological Change," IZA Discussion Papers 10880, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10880.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yanikkaya, Halit, 2003. "Trade openness and economic growth: a cross-country empirical investigation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 57-89, October.
    2. Borensztein, E. & De Gregorio, J. & Lee, J-W., 1998. "How does foreign direct investment affect economic growth?1," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 115-135, June.
    3. Barry Eichengreen & David Leblang, 2008. "Democracy And Globalization," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 289-334, November.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 465-490.
    5. Loof, Hans, 2004. "Dynamic optimal capital structure and technical change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 449-468, December.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Suresh Naidu & Pascual Restrepo & James A. Robinson, 2019. "Democracy Does Cause Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(1), pages 47-100.
    7. Kim, H Youn, 1992. "The Translog Production Function and Variable Returns to Scale," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 546-552, August.
    8. Nicholas Bloom & Mirko Draca & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Trade Induced Technical Change? The Impact of Chinese Imports on Innovation, IT and Productivity," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(1), pages 87-117.
    9. Lucia Foster & John C. Haltiwanger & C. J. Krizan, 2001. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons from Microeconomic Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: New Developments in Productivity Analysis, pages 303-372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Ram C. Acharya & Wolfgang Keller, 2009. "Technology transfer through imports," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 1411-1448, November.
    11. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2007. "The growth effect of democracy: Is it heterogenous and how can it be estimated?," Working Papers 322, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    12. Marsh, Paul, 1982. "The Choice between Equity and Debt: An Empirical Study," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(1), pages 121-144, March.
    13. Tabellini, Guido & Alesina, Alberto, 1990. "Voting on the Budget Deficit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 37-49, March.
    14. Baltagi, Badi H & Griffin, James M, 1988. "A General Index of Technical Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 20-41, February.
    15. J. Ernesto Lopez-Cordova & Christopher M. Meissner, 2005. "The Globalization of Trade and Democracy, 1870-2000," NBER Working Papers 11117, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Lyu, Syu-Jyun Larry & White, Fred C. & Lu, Yao-Chi, 1984. "Estimating Effects of Agricultural Research and Extension Expenditures on Productivity: A Translog Production Function Approach," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 1-8, December.
    17. Heshmati, Almas, 2001. "The Dynamics of Capital Structure: Evidence from Swedish Micro and Small Firms," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 0440, Stockholm School of Economics.
    18. Christensen, Laurits R & Jorgenson, Dale W & Lau, Lawrence J, 1973. "Transcendental Logarithmic Production Frontiers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 55(1), pages 28-45, February.
    19. Lyu, Syu-Jyun Larry & White, Fred C. & Lu, Yao-Chi, 1984. "Estimating Effects Of Agricultural Research And Extension Expenditures On Productivity: A Translog Production Function Approach," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 16(2), pages 1-8, December.
    20. Busse, Matthias, 2003. "Democracy and FDI," Discussion Paper Series 26260, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    21. José Cheibub & Jennifer Gandhi & James Vreeland, 2010. "Democracy and dictatorship revisited," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 67-101, April.
    22. Almas Heshmati, 1996. "On the single and multiple time trends representation of technical change," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(8), pages 495-499.
    23. Banerjee, Saugata & Heshmati, Almas & Wihlborg, Clas, 1999. "The Dynamics of Capital Structure," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 333, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 21 Aug 2000.
    24. Plumper, Thomas & Martin, Christian W, 2003. "Democracy, Government Spending, and Economic Growth: A Political-Economic Explanation of the Barro-Effect," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 117(1-2), pages 27-50, October.
    25. Evans, Alun Dwyfor & Green, Christopher J & Murinde, Victor, 2002. "Human Capital and Financial Development in Economic Growth: New Evidence Using the Translog Production Function," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(2), pages 123-140, April.
    26. Christopher M. Meissner & Jose Ernesto Lopez Cordova, 2005. "Globalization and Democracy, 1870-2000," 2005 Meeting Papers 112, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    27. Yu, Miaojie, 2010. "Trade, democracy, and the gravity equation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 289-300, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Democracy depends on financial markets too
      by Bruno Duarte in EUnomics on 2018-09-03 18:02:28

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Krittika Banerjee & Ashima Goyal, 2021. "Current account imbalances: Exploring role of domestic and external factors for large emerging markets," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2021-001, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    2. Kaya MUHAMMED VEYSEL & Yılmaz SUAT SERHAT, 2019. "Does Economic Growth Need Democracy? An Application on Islamic Countries with System-GMM Approach," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 1, pages 156-161.

    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. Houda Haffoudhi & Rihab Bellakhal, 2020. "Threshold Effect of Globalization on Democracy: the Role of Demography," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1690-1707, December.
    2. Jorge Braga Macedo & Joaquim Oliveira Martins & João Tovar Jalles, 2021. "Globalization, Freedoms and Economic convergence: an empirical exploration of a trivariate relationship using a large panel," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 605-629, July.
    3. Tzouvelekas, Evaggelos, 2000. "Approximation Properties and Estimation of the Translog Production Function with Panel Data," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(1), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Valentin F. Lang & Ms. Marina Mendes Tavares, 2018. "The Distribution of Gains from Globalization," IMF Working Papers 2018/054, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Feng, Guohua & Gao, Jiti & Peng, Bin, 2022. "An integrated panel data approach to modelling economic growth," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 379-397.
    6. Barry Eichengreen & David Leblang, 2008. "Democracy And Globalization," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 289-334, November.
    7. Yue, Jiahua & Zhou, Shangsi, 2018. "Democracy’s comparative advantage: Evidence from aggregated trade data, 1962–2010," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 27-40.
    8. Abdel-Latif, Hany, 2019. "FDI response to political shocks: What can the Arab Spring tell us?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    9. Bougharriou, Nouha & Benayed, Walid & Gabsi, Foued Badr, 2019. "The democracy and economic growth nexus: Do FDI and government spending matter? Evidence from the Arab world," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-29.
    10. Duong, Huu Nhan & Goyal, Abhinav & Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2022. "Democracy and the pricing of initial public offerings around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 322-341.
    11. G. Oka Warmana & I. Ketut Rahyuda & Ida Bagus Anom Purbawangsa & Ni Luh Gede Sri Artini, 2020. "Investigating Capital Structure Speed of Adjustment (SOA) of Indonesian Companies for Corporate Value," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 21(3), pages 215-231, September.
    12. Wafa Ghardallou, 2022. "Financial System Development and Democracy: a Panel Smooth Transition Regression Approach for Developing Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1714-1735, June.
    13. Fernando Tohmé & M. Ángeles Caraballo & Carlos Dabús, 2022. "Instability, political regimes and economic growth. A theoretical framework," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 291-317, February.
    14. Kassouri, Yacouba & Altıntaş, Halil & Bilgili, Faik, 2020. "An investigation of the financial resource curse hypothesis in oil-exporting countries: The threshold effect of democratic accountability," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    15. Johannes Blum & Florian Dorn & Axel Heuer, 2021. "Political institutions and health expenditure," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(2), pages 323-363, April.
    16. Abeliansky, Ana & Krenz, Astrid, 2015. "Democracy and international trade: Differential effects from a panel quantile regression framework," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 243, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    17. Jean Lacroix & Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2017. "Do democratic transitions attract foreign investors and how fast?," Working Papers CEB 17-006, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Gründler, Klaus & Krieger, Tommy, 2016. "Democracy and growth: Evidence from a machine learning indicator," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 85-107.
    19. Al-Ubaydli, Omar, 2012. "Natural resources and the tradeoff between authoritarianism and development," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 137-152.
    20. Johannes Blum, 2021. "Democracy’s third wave and national defense spending," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 183-212, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    general index; multiple time trends; single time trend; production function; democracy; economic growth; technology shifters; flexible adjustment speed; target level of GDP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:iza:izadps:dp10880. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    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.