IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/poleco/v33y2014icp121-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A distributional analysis of the benefits of economic freedom

Author

Listed:
  • Compton, Ryan A.
  • Giedeman, Daniel C.
  • Hoover, Gary A.

Abstract

Using US state-level economic freedom measures, we investigate the extent that changes in economic freedom affect US State income growth. More importantly, we study how this effect differs across income quintiles, allowing us to address the particularly timely question of who benefits from increases in economic freedom and who does not. Our results indicate that while increases in economic freedom positively contribute to income growth, the strength of this effect differs across quintiles.

Suggested Citation

  • Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2014. "A distributional analysis of the benefits of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 121-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:33:y:2014:i:c:p:121-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.12.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0176268013000992
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2013.12.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Jan-Egbert Sturm & Jakob De Haan, 2001. "How robust is the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 839-844.
    2. Anke E. Hoeffler, 2002. "The augmented Solow model and the African growth debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    3. Jakob De Haan & Susanna Lundström & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Market‐oriented institutions and policies and economic growth: A critical survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 157-191, April.
    4. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2000. "On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 215-241, June.
    5. James D. Gwartney & Randall G. Holcombe & Robert A. Lawson, 2006. "Institutions and the Impact of Investment on Growth," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 255-273, May.
    6. Easton, Stephen T & Walker, Michael A, 1997. "Income, Growth, and Economic Freedom," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 328-332, May.
    7. Bergh, Andreas & Nilsson, Therese, 2010. "Do liberalization and globalization increase income inequality?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 488-505, December.
    8. Ryan Compton & Daniel Giedeman, 2011. "Panel evidence on finance, institutions and economic growth," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(25), pages 3523-3547.
    9. Nathan J. Ashby, 2007. "Economic Freedom and Migration Flows between U.S. States," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 677-697, January.
    10. Justesen, Mogens K., 2008. "The effect of economic freedom on growth revisited: New evidence on causality from a panel of countries 1970-1999," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 642-660, September.
    11. Berggren, Niclas, 2003. "The Benefits of Economic Freedom: A Survey," Ratio Working Papers 4, The Ratio Institute.
    12. David Roodman, 2009. "A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 135-158, February.
    13. Heckelman, Jac C. & Stroup, Michael D., 2005. "A comparison of aggregation methods for measures of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 953-966, December.
    14. Jan–Egbert Sturm & Erik Leertouwer & Jakob de Haan, 2002. "Which Economic Freedoms Contribute to Growth? A Comment," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 403-416, August.
    15. Nathan Ashby & Russell Sobel, 2008. "Income inequality and economic freedom in the U.S. states," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 329-346, March.
    16. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2003. "Does more democracy lead to greater economic freedom? New evidence for developing countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 547-563, September.
    17. Thomas A. Garrett & Russell M. Rhine, 2011. "Economic freedom and employment growth in U.S. states," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 93(Jan), pages 1-18.
    18. Claudia Williamson & Rachel Mathers, 2011. "Economic freedom, culture, and growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 313-335, September.
    19. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    20. Apergis, Nicholas & Dincer, Oguzhan C. & Payne, James E., 2012. "Live free or bribe: On the causal dynamics between economic freedom and corruption in U.S. states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 215-226.
    21. Hoeffler, Anke E, 2002. "The Augmented Solow Model and the African Growth Debate," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(2), pages 135-158, May.
    22. Scully, Gerald W, 2002. "Economic Freedom, Government Policy and the Trade-Off between Equity and Economic Growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 113(1-2), pages 77-96, October.
    23. Gwartney, James & Lawson, Robert, 2003. "The concept and measurement of economic freedom," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 405-430, September.
    24. Sturm, Jan-Egbert & Leertouwer, Erik & de Hann, Jakob, 2002. "Which Economic Freedoms Contribute to Growth? A Comment," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 403-416.
    25. Smimou, Kamal & Karabegovic, Amela, 2010. "On the relationship between economic freedom and equity returns in the emerging markets: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) stock markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 119-151, June.
    26. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    27. Bennett, Daniel L. & Vedder, Richard K., 2013. "A Dynamic Analysis of Economic Freedom and Income Inequality in the 50 U.S. States: Empirical Evidence of a Parabolic Relationship," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1).
    28. Berggren, Niclas, 1999. "Economic Freedom and Equality: Friends or Foes?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 100(3-4), pages 203-223, September.
    29. Martin Leschke, 2000. "Constitutional Choice and Prosperity: A Factor Analysis," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 265-279, September.
    30. Fadzlan Sufian & Muzafar Shah Habibullah, 2011. "Opening the Black Box on Bank Efficiency in China: Does Economic Freedom Matter?," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 269-298, September.
    31. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2011. "Panel evidence on economic freedom and growth in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 423-435, September.
    32. Steven F. Kreft & Russell S. Sobel, 2005. "Public Policy, Entrepreneurship, And Economic Freedom," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 25(3), pages 595-616, Fall.
    33. Heckelman, Jac C & Stroup, Michael D, 2000. "Which Economic Freedoms Contribute to Growth?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 527-544.
    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. Graafland, Johan, 2023. "Economic freedom and life satisfaction: A moderated mediation model with individual autonomy and national culture," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Vogel, Lukas, 2017. "Structural reforms at the zero bound," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 74-90.
    3. Jeremy Jackson, 2017. "Free to Be Happy: Economic Freedom and Happiness in US States," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1207-1229, August.
    4. Chambers, Dustin & O'Reilly, Colin, 2022. "Regulation and income inequality in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Jonathan D. Ostry & Andrew Berg & Siddharth Kothari, 2021. "Growth‐equity trade‐offs in structural reforms," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(2), pages 209-237, May.
    6. Daniel L. Bennett & Boris Nikolaev, 2017. "On the ambiguous economic freedom–inequality relationship," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 717-754, September.
    7. Travis Wiseman, 2017. "Economic Freedom And Growth In U.S. State-Level Market Incomes At The Top And Bottom," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(1), pages 93-112, January.
    8. Chen, Mei-Ping & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Hsu, Yi-Chung, 2017. "Investor sentiment and country exchange traded funds: Does economic freedom matter?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 285-299.
    9. Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2021. "Does economic freedom boost growth for everyone?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 170-186, May.
    10. Joshua C. Hall & Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2015. "Economic Freedom, Race, and Health Disparities: Evidence from US States," Working Papers 15-43, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    11. Hans Pitlik & Martin Rode, 2014. "Free to Choose? Economic Freedom, Relative Income, and Life Control Perceptions," WIFO Working Papers 482, WIFO.
    12. Joshua C. Hall & Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Participation in Physical Activity," Working Papers 15-17, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    13. Keith Barnatchez & Robert Lester, 2017. "The Relationship Between Economic Freedom And Economic Dynamism," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 358-372, April.
    14. Migbaru A. Workneh, 2020. "Gender Inequality, Governance, and Poverty in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), pages 150-174, June.
    15. Faria, Hugo J. & Montesinos-Yufa, Hugo M. & Morales, Daniel R. & Navarro, Carlos E., 2016. "Unbundling the roles of human capital and institutions in economic development," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 108-128.

    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. Compton, Ryan A. & Giedeman, Daniel C. & Hoover, Gary A., 2011. "Panel evidence on economic freedom and growth in the United States," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 423-435, September.
    2. Jakob De Haan & Susanna Lundström & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2006. "Market‐oriented institutions and policies and economic growth: A critical survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 157-191, April.
    3. Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2021. "Does economic freedom boost growth for everyone?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 170-186, May.
    4. Islam, Md. Rabiul, 2018. "Wealth inequality, democracy and economic freedom," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 920-935.
    5. Martin Rode & Sebastian Coll, 2012. "Economic freedom and growth. Which policies matter the most?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 95-133, June.
    6. Krieger, Tim & Meierrieks, Daniel, 2016. "Political capitalism: The interaction between income inequality, economic freedom and democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 115-132.
    7. Daniel L. Bennett & Boris Nikolaev, 2017. "On the ambiguous economic freedom–inequality relationship," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 717-754, September.
    8. Justesen, Mogens K., 2008. "The effect of economic freedom on growth revisited: New evidence on causality from a panel of countries 1970-1999," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 642-660, September.
    9. Falguni Pattanaik & Narayan Nayak, 2014. "Economic freedom and economic growth in India: What is the empirical relationship?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 275-298, November.
    10. Niklas Potrafke, 2013. "Economic Freedom and Government Ideology across the German States," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 433-449, March.
    11. Joshua C. Hall & Donald J. Lacombe & Timothy M. Shaughnessy, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Economic Growth Across U.S. States: A Spatial Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers 15-33, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    12. Tanin, Tauhidul Islam & Masih, Mansur, 2017. "Does economic freedom lead or lag economic growth? evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 79446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Doucouliagos, Chris & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet Ali, 2006. "Economic freedom and economic growth: Does specification make a difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 60-81, March.
    14. Zuazu, Izaskun, 2019. "The growth effect of democracy and technology: An industry disaggregated approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 115-131.
    15. Aslý YENÝPAZARLI, 2017. "Economic freedom and effects on economic growth: A time series analysis for Turkey," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 345-351, September.
    16. Hatice KÜÇÜKKAYA, 2017. "EUREFE’17 International Conference," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 343-344, September.
    17. Berggren, Niclas, 2003. "The Benefits of Economic Freedom: A Survey," Ratio Working Papers 4, The Ratio Institute.
    18. Lee, Sang Mook & Bazel-Shoham, Ofra & Tarba, Shlomo Y. & Shoham, Amir, 2022. "The effect of economic freedom on board diversity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 833-849.
    19. Young, Andrew T. & Lawson, Robert A., 2014. "Capitalism and labor shares: A cross-country panel study," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 20-36.
    20. Johan Graafland & Bart Compen, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Life Satisfaction: Mediation by Income per Capita and Generalized Trust," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 789-810, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality; Poverty; Regulation; Protective/productive government; Freedom;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    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:eee:poleco:v:33:y:2014:i:c:p:121-133. 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/inca/505544 .

    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.