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Plausibly exogenous causes of economic freedom

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  • Ryan H. Murphy

    (Southern Methodist University SMU Cox School of Business)

Abstract

A large literature has emerged investigating the origins of the institutions of economic freedom. While some literature has used impressive identification strategies to tackle this question, findings as a whole are typically circumscribed in their identification. This paper considers a series of variables that are reasonably thought of as exogenous, namely, legal origins and a series of environmental variables. It then compares their effects on economic freedom to the lagged relationships of education, democracy, and civil society with economic freedom. The historical prevalence of pathogens at first appears to be a strong determinant of economic freedom, but it is tentatively concluded that this occurs through the conduit of education, with lagged education having a strongly positive relationship with economic freedom. We also find that the natural log of the size of a country has a negative effect on economic freedom. We separately observe several other tertiary or less robust results in the course of the analysis found herein.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan H. Murphy, 2021. "Plausibly exogenous causes of economic freedom," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 85-105, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbioec:v:23:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10818-021-09308-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10818-021-09308-w
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    1. Ryan H Murphy, 2022. "The constitution of ambiguity: The effects of constitutions on economic freedom," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 240-258, June.

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