IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jed/journl/v40y2015i1p63-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Democracy Promote The Rule Of Law?

Author

Listed:
  • ANDREAS ASSIOTIS

    (University of Cyprus, Cyprus)

  • KEVIN SYLWESTER

    (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA)

Abstract

Recent studies find that democracy increases economic growth but often do not address through what channels such an effect could travel. This study considers whether or not democracy strengthens the rule of law, an institutional measure purported to increase economic growth. Utilizing a panel dataset from 1984 to 2007 for 127 countries and both fixed effect and dynamic GMM methodologies, we examine whether democracy promotes the rule of law. We generally find a short run positive influence upon the rule of law although effects are greatest for low income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Assiotis & Kevin Sylwester, 2015. "Does Democracy Promote The Rule Of Law?," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 40(1), pages 63-92, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:40:y:2015:i:1:p:63-92
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jed.or.kr/full-text/40-1/3.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu, 2010. "Theory, General Equilibrium, and Political Economy in Development Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 17-32, Summer.
    2. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    3. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian & Francesco Trebbi, 2004. "Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 131-165, June.
    4. Philippe Aghion, 2005. "Growth and Institutions," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 3-18, March.
    5. Karla Hoff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2004. "After the Big Bang? Obstacles to the Emergence of the Rule of Law in Post-Communist Societies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 753-763, June.
    6. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz & Luis A. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "Democracy, Governance, and Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz & Luis A Rivera-Batiz (ed.), International Trade, Capital Flows and Economic Development, chapter 8, pages 215-248, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Dani Rodrik & Romain Wacziarg, 2005. "Do Democratic Transitions Produce Bad Economic Outcomes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 50-55, May.
    8. Tavares, Samia Costa, 2007. "Do rapid political and trade liberalizations increase corruption?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 1053-1076, December.
    9. Clague, Christopher & Keefer, Philip & Knack, Stephen & Olson, Mancur, 1996. "Property and Contract Rights in Autocracies and Democracies," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 243-276, June.
    10. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1995. "Institutions And Economic Performance: Cross‐Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 207-227, November.
    11. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    12. Michael T. Rock, 2007. "Corruption and Democracy," Working Papers 55, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    13. Orazio P. Attanasio & Lucio Picci & Antonello E. Scorcu, 2000. "Saving, Growth, and Investment: A Macroeconomic Analysis Using a Panel of Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 182-211, May.
    14. James A. Robinson & Daron Acemoglu, 2000. "Political Losers as a Barrier to Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 126-130, May.
    15. Francisco L. Rivera-Batiz & Luis A. Rivera-Batiz, 2018. "Democracy, Governance, and Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Francisco L Rivera-Batiz & Luis A Rivera-Batiz (ed.),International Trade, Capital Flows and Economic Development, chapter 8, pages 215-248, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    17. Sunde, Uwe & Cervellati, Matteo & Fortunato, Piergiuseppe, 2008. "Are all democracies equally good? The role of interactions between political environment and inequality for rule of law," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 552-556, June.
    18. 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.
    19. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    20. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    21. Andreas Assiotis & Kevin Sylwester, 2013. "Do Good Institutions Lower the Benefit of Democratization?," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 05-2013, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    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. Tommy Krieger, 2022. "Democracy and the quality of economic institutions: theory and evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(3), pages 357-376, September.
    2. Krieger, Tommy, 2022. "Democracy and the quality of economic institutions: Theory and evidence," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Lebedev, Sergey & Sun, Sunny Li & Markóczy, Lívia & Peng, Mike W., 2021. "Board political ties and firm internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3).
    4. Krieger, Tommy, 2019. "Democracy and institutional quality: Theory and Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203507, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

    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. Eicher, Theo S. & Schreiber, Till, 2010. "Structural policies and growth: Time series evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 169-179, January.
    2. Piergiuseppe Fortunato & Ugo Panizza, 2015. "Democracy, education and the quality of government," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 333-363, December.
    3. Elias Papaioannou & Gregorios Siourounis, 2008. "Democratisation and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(532), pages 1520-1551, October.
    4. Rok Spruk & Mitja Kovac, 2018. "Inefficient Growth," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 9(2).
    5. Eslamloueyan, Karim & Jafari, Mahboubeh, 2019. "Do better institutions offset the adverse effect of a financial crisis on investment? Evidence from East Asia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 154-172.
    6. Pierre-Guillaume Méon & Khalid Sekkat, 2016. "A time to throw stones, a time to reap: How long does it take for democratic transitions to improve institutional outcomes?," Working Papers CEB 16-016, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    8. Theo S. Eicher & David J. Kuenzel, 2019. "European influence and economic development," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 667-734, May.
    9. Andreas Assiotis & Kevin Sylwester, 2013. "Do Good Institutions Lower the Benefit of Democratization?," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 05-2013, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.
    10. Slesman, Ly & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Ra'ees, Wahabuddin, 2015. "Institutional infrastructure and economic growth in member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 214-226.
    11. Kotschy, Rainer & Sunde, Uwe, 2017. "Democracy, inequality, and institutional quality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 209-228.
    12. Eric Akobeng, 2017. "Gross Capital Formation, Institutions and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 136-164, April.
    13. Fuchs, Michaela & Wohlrabe, Klaus, 2008. "Institutions, trade, and integration: what can be expected within the enlarged EU?," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 16/08, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    14. Leone Leonida & Dario Maimone Ansaldo Patti & Pietro Navarra, 2013. "Testing the Political Replacement Effect: A Panel Data Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(6), pages 785-805, December.
    15. Herzer, Dierk, 2013. "Cross-Country Heterogeneity and the Trade-Income Relationship," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 194-211.
    16. Magrini, Emiliano & Morales-Opazo, Cristian & Balie, Jean, 2014. "Supply response along the value chain in selected SSA countries: the case of grains," 2014: Food, Resources and Conflict, December 7-9, 2014. San Diego, California 197193, International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.
    17. John Knight & Sai Ding, 2008. "Why has China Grown so Fast? The Role of Structural Change," Economics Series Working Papers 415, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    18. Madsen, Jakob B. & Raschky, Paul A. & Skali, Ahmed, 2015. "Does democracy drive income in the world, 1500–2000?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 175-195.
    19. Jan Fałkowski & Alessandro Olper, 2014. "Political competition and policy choices: the evidence from agricultural protection," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(2), pages 143-158, March.
    20. Andreas Assiotis & Kevin Sylwester, 2013. "Do the effects of corruption upon growth differ between democracies and autocracies?," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 06-2013, University of Cyprus Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Democratization; Institutions; Rule of Law; Economic Growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

    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:jed:journl:v:40:y:2015:i:1:p:63-92. 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: Sung Y. Park (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eccaukr.html .

    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.