Political Regimes and Economic Growth in Latin America

20 Pages Posted: 25 May 2007

See all articles by Facundo Albornoz

Facundo Albornoz

University of Birmingham

Jayasri Dutta

University of Birmingham - Department of Economics

Date Written: May 25, 2007

Abstract

Living in a democratic society has been internationally recognized as a basic human right. While most of the literature tries to identify the effect of democracy on economic prosperity, little work has been done to understand the determinants of economic growth under democracy. This paper examines whether the determinants of economic growth in Latin America are sensitive to political institutions. We find two stark differences between democratic and autocratic growth: (1) democratic government consumption is significantly positive for economic growth. The opposite is true for autocratic government consumption. (2) The impact of human capital is only significant under democracies.

Keywords: Economic growth, Latin America, Democracy, Autocracy

JEL Classification: O43, O54, H50, P16, N46

Suggested Citation

Albornoz, Facundo and Dutta, Jayasri, Political Regimes and Economic Growth in Latin America (May 25, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=988921 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.988921

Facundo Albornoz (Contact Author)

University of Birmingham ( email )

Economics Department
Birmingham, B15 2TT
United Kingdom

Jayasri Dutta

University of Birmingham - Department of Economics ( email )

Economics Department
Birmingham, B15 2TT
United Kingdom
+44 0121 4 146640 (Phone)

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