IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i8p237-d1725367.html

Safeguarding Economic Growth Amid Democratic Backsliding: The Primacy of Institutions over Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Ran Ben Malka

    (Department of Economics, Sapir Academic College, D.N. Hof Ashkelon 79165, Israel)

  • Sharon Hadad

    (Department of Economics, Sapir Academic College, D.N. Hof Ashkelon 79165, Israel)

Abstract

This paper investigates how democracy influences economic growth through innovation and institutional quality. Using an augmented Solow growth model and panel-data mediation analysis across 123 countries (2011–2022), we quantify democracy’s impact on GDP per capita. Our results show that institutional quality accounts for 83.3% of democracy’s total effect on economic output, while innovation explains only 16.7%. This study contributes to the literature by distinguishing between institutional and innovation channels in the democracy–growth nexus and provides policy-relevant insights for promoting inclusive economic growth (SDG 8) and building resilient infrastructure and innovation (SDG 9).

Suggested Citation

  • Ran Ben Malka & Sharon Hadad, 2025. "Safeguarding Economic Growth Amid Democratic Backsliding: The Primacy of Institutions over Innovation," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:8:p:237-:d:1725367
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/8/237/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/8/237/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Busse, Matthias & Hefeker, Carsten, 2007. "Political risk, institutions and foreign direct investment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 397-415, June.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    3. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    4. Haggard, Stephan & Tiede, Lydia, 2011. "The Rule of Law and Economic Growth: Where are We?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 673-685, May.
    5. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "Institutions for High-Quality Growth: What They Are and How to Acquire Them," Chapters, in: Kartik Roy & Jörn Sideras (ed.), Institutions, Globalisation and Empowerment, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Benjamin A. Olken, 2007. "Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(2), pages 200-249.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chakraborty, Adrij, 2017. "Colonial Origins and Comparative Development: Institutions Matter," MPRA Paper 86320, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2018.
    2. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Ketterer, Tobias, 2016. "Institutions vs. ‘First-Nature’ Geography – What Drives Economic Growth in Europe’s Regions?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11322, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    3. Siddiqui, Danish Ahmed & Ahmed, Qazi Masood, 2013. "The effect of institutions on economic growth: A global analysis based on GMM dynamic panel estimation," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 18-33.
    4. Silberberger, Magdalene & Königer, Jens, 2016. "Regulation, trade and economic growth," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 308-322.
    5. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Institutions, Policies, and Economic Growth Overview," EconStor Preprints 269877, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Ugur, Mehmet & Dasgupta, Nandini, 2011. "Corruption and economic growth: A meta-analysis of the evidence on low-income countries and beyond," MPRA Paper 31226, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 31 May 2011.
    7. Hamilton-Hart, Natasha, 2017. "The Legal Environment and Incentives for Change in Property Rights Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 167-176.
    8. Hazwan Haini, 2020. "Examining the relationship between finance, institutions and economic growth: evidence from the ASEAN economies," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 519-542, November.
    9. Richard Bluhm & Adam Szirmai, 2011. "Institutions, Inequality and Growth: A review of theory and evidence on the institutional determinants of growth and inequality," Papers inwopa634, Innocenti Working Papers.
    10. Islam, Md. Rabiul & McGillivray, Mark, 2020. "Wealth inequality, governance and economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1-13.
    11. Seethepalli, Kalpana & Bramati, Maria Caterina & Veredas, David, 2008. "How relevant is infrastructure to growth in East Asia ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4597, The World Bank.
    12. Denizer, Cevdet & Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Gelb, Alan, 2011. "Development Economics and the International Development Association," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5541, The World Bank.
    13. Baiashvili, Tamar & Gattini, Luca, 2020. "Impact of FDI on economic growth: The role of country income levels and institutional strength," EIB Working Papers 2020/02, European Investment Bank (EIB).
    14. Md. Sadik Pavel & Seikh Ruksana Burhan & Tanim Papiya, 2019. "Should Bangladesh Export to Countries with Better Institutional or Comparatively Similar Institutional Form?," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 9-26, January.
    15. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," EconStor Preprints 269878, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Bakari, Sayef, 2024. "Link among Domestic Investments, Exports and Economic Growth: New Evidence from Australia," MPRA Paper 121604, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Edinaldo Tebaldi & Bruce Elmslie, 2008. "Institutions, Innovation And Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 27-53, December.
    18. Alali, Walid Y., 2010. "Impact of Institutions and Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 115610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2011. "Growth Miracles and Growth Debacles," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13609.
    20. Ageliki Anagnostou & Dimitris Kallioras & Christos Kollias, 2016. "Governance Convergence Among the EU28?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 133-146, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:8:p:237-:d:1725367. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.