IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v76y2010i2p406-412.html

Some searches may not work properly. We apologize for the inconvenience.

   My bibliography  Save this article

Take the money and run: Political turnover, rent-seeking and economic growth

Author

Listed:
  • Caporale, Tony
  • Leirer, Jonathan

Abstract

We find a negative and significant relationship between gubernatorial turnover and U.S. state economic growth. Although our finding of an inverse relationship between growth and political instability may seem to contradict Olson's (1982a) famous hypothesis regarding the growth retarding nature of political stability, such constitutional political changes were not primarily what Olson had in mind. We argue that enhanced political turnover is associated with more rent-seeking since payoffs to focusing on special interest (redistributive) policies vs. general (growth enhancing) ones are greater for less durable regimes. Therefore, we interpret our evidence as supportive of Olson's broader argument concerning the negative affect of rent-seeking behavior on growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Caporale, Tony & Leirer, Jonathan, 2010. "Take the money and run: Political turnover, rent-seeking and economic growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 406-412, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:76:y:2010:i:2:p:406-412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-2681(10)00143-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Vedder & Lowell Gallaway, 1986. "Rent-seeking, distributional coalitions, taxes, relative prices and economic growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 93-100, January.
    2. Barro, Robert J, 1996. "Democracy and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-27, March.
    3. J. Barkley Rosser Jr, 2007. "The Rise and Decline of Mancur Olson's View of The Rise and Decline of Nations," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 4-17, July.
    4. Olson, Mancur, 1984. "Beyond Keynesianism and Monetarism," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 22(3), pages 297-322, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Randall G. Holcombe & Donald J. Lacombe, 2004. "The Effect of State Income Taxation on Per Capita Income Growth," Public Finance Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 292-312, May.
    7. Alberto Alesina & Reza Baqir & William Easterly, 1999. "Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1243-1284.
    8. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    9. Glaeser, Edward L. & Scheinkman, JoseA. & Shleifer, Andrei, 1995. "Economic growth in a cross-section of cities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 117-143, August.
    10. Alesina, Alberto & Özler, Sule & Roubini, Nouriel & Swagel, Phillip, 1996. "Political Instability and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 189-211, June.
    11. John Joseph Wallis & Wallace E. Oates, 1988. "Does Economic Sclerosis Set in with Age? An Empirical Study of the Olson Hypothesis," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 397-417, August.
    12. Alberto Alesina & Guido Tabellini, 1990. "A Positive Theory of Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 57(3), pages 403-414.
    13. Poitras, Marc & Sutter, Daniel, 2000. "Enhancing Efficiency or Crying Over Spilled Milk: The Benefits of Reform," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 105(1-2), pages 23-40, October.
    14. Barry T. Hirsch & David A. MacPherson, 2003. "Union Membership and Coverage Database from the Current Population Survey: Note," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(2), pages 349-354, January.
    15. repec:hoo:wpaper:e-95-4 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Friedman, Milton, 1992. "Do Old Fallacies Ever Die?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 2129-2132, December.
    17. Clark Nardinelli & Myles Wallace & John Warner, 1987. "Explaining differences in state growth: Catching up versus Olson," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 201-213, January.
    18. repec:bla:econom:v:59:y:1992:i:235:p:261-77 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Olson, Mancur, 1982. "Stagflation and the Political Economy of the Decline in Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(2), pages 143-148, May.
    20. Mueller, Dennis C, 1982. "Redistribution, Growth, and Political Stability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(2), pages 155-159, May.
    21. Gray, Virginia & Lowery, David, 1988. "Interest Group Politics and Economic Growth in the U.S. States," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(1), pages 109-131, March.
    22. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    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. Yu, Jingwen & Mai, Dongren, 2020. "Political turnover and stock crash risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    2. Emery Thomas J. & Kovac Mitja & Spruk Rok, 2023. "Estimating the Effects of Political Instability in Nascent Democracies," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 243(6), pages 599-642, December.
    3. Liu, Guanchun & Zhang, Chengsi & Zhu, Yueteng, 2020. "The interest group theory of banking sector expansion in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Hadj Fraj, Salma & bouchoucha, Najeh & Maktouf, Samir, 2020. "Political stability and economic growth: the role of exchange rate regime," MPRA Paper 104586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Jan Fałkowski & Grażyna Bukowska, 2016. "Monopolizacja władzy a wyniki gospodarcze na poziomie Polski lokalnej," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 2, pages 91-120.
    6. Cole, Ismail M., 2014. "Short- and long-term growth effects of special interest groups in the U.S. states: A dynamic panel error-correction approach," MPRA Paper 54455, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Mar 2014.
    7. Theresa Hager, 2020. "Special Interest Groups and Growth: A Meta-Analysis of Mancur Olsons Theory," ICAE Working Papers 116, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    8. Ismail M. Cole, 2015. "Interest group activity and economic growth: some new evidence from the US states," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(10), pages 825-829, July.
    9. Deng, Yuping & Wu, Yanrui & Xu, Helian, 2019. "Political turnover and firm pollution discharges: An empirical study," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. Dong, Zhiqiang & Wang, Xiaobing & Zhang, Tianhua & Zhong, Yuejun, 2022. "The effects of local government leadership turnover on entrepreneurial behavior," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Francisco Antonio Sousa De Araujo & Paulo De Melo Jorge Neto, 2016. "Competição Política, Grupos De Interesse E A Oferta De Serviços Públicos: Uma Análise Para Os Municípios Cearenses Nos Anos De 2005 E 2009," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 064, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    12. Ji, Xiaoqing & Liu, Shuai & Lang, Jingyi, 2022. "Assessing the impact of officials' turnover on urban economic efficiency: From the perspective of political promotion incentive and power rent-seeking incentive," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    13. Uddin, Md Akther & Masih, Mansur, 2016. "War and peace: why is political stability pivotal for economic growth of OIC countries?," MPRA Paper 71678, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Uddin, Md Akther & Ali, Md Hakim & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Political stability and growth: An application of dynamic GMM and quantile regression," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 610-625.
    15. Andrea De Meo & Lorenzo Ferrari, 2018. "Political Turnover and the Performance of Local Public Enterprises," CEIS Research Paper 438, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 08 Aug 2018.

    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. Cole, Ismail M., 2014. "Short- and long-term growth effects of special interest groups in the U.S. states: A dynamic panel error-correction approach," MPRA Paper 54455, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Mar 2014.
    2. Theresa Hager, 2020. "Special Interest Groups and Growth: A Meta-Analysis of Mancur Olsons Theory," ICAE Working Papers 116, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    3. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308, Elsevier.
    4. Jian-Guang Shen, 2002. "Democracy and growth: An alternative empirical approach," Development and Comp Systems 0212002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Niclas Berggren & Mikael Elinder, 2012. "Is tolerance good or bad for growth?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 283-308, January.
    6. Takahiro SATO, 2017. "India in the World Economy: Inferences from Empirics of Economic Growth," ESRI Discussion paper series 338, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    7. Shen, Jian-Guang, 2002. "Democracy and growth : An alternative empirical approach," BOFIT Discussion Papers 13/2002, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    8. Celal Kucuker, 2003. "Türkiye Ýktisat Kongresi Büyüme Stratejileri Çalýþma Grubu," Working Papers 2003/5, Turkish Economic Association.
    9. Gurgul, Henryk & Lach, Łukasz, 2012. "Political instability and economic growth: Evidence from two decades of transition in CEE," MPRA Paper 37792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Jac C. Heckelman, 2007. "Explaining the Rain: The Rise and Decline of Nations after 25 Years," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(1), pages 18-33, July.
    11. Chen, Baizhu & Feng, Yi, 1996. "Some political determinants of economic growth: Theory and empirical implications," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 609-627, December.
    12. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    13. Knack, Stephen, 2002. "Governance and growth: measurement and evidence," MPRA Paper 28050, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Jody Overland & Kenneth Simons & Michael Spagat, 2005. "Political instability and growth in dictatorships," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 445-470, December.
    15. Hajamini, Mehdi & Falahi, Mohammad Ali, 2018. "Economic growth and government size in developed European countries: A panel threshold approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-13.
    16. Salma Hadj Fraj & Mekki Hamdaoui & Samir Maktouf, 2018. "Governance and economic growth: The role of the exchange rate regime," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 156, pages 326-364.
    17. Albert Saiz, 2002. "Democracy to the road: the political economy of potholes," Working Papers 02-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    18. Eris, Mehmet, 2010. "Population heterogeneity and growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1211-1222, September.
    19. Li, Xiaoying & Liu, Xiaming, 2005. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: An Increasingly Endogenous Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 393-407, March.
    20. Christopher Blattman, 2009. "Civil War: A Review of Fifty Years of Research," Working Papers id:2231, eSocialSciences.

    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:eee:jeborg:v:76:y:2010:i:2:p:406-412. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    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.