IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v205y2025i1d10.1007_s11127-025-01290-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political growth collapses

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco Rodríguez

    (University of Denver)

  • Patrick Imam

    (Joint Vienna Institute)

Abstract

Economic collapses can result from political actors adopting strategies that generate severe negative economic externalities for society. This paper establishes the conditions under which peacetime political conflict becomes economically destructive and identifies the settings where the breakdown of conflict-management arrangements leads to economic implosions. We show that politically driven collapses are characterized by high contestation of power, significant declines in productivity, increases in short-term policy biases, and substantial externalities arising from political strategies. We argue that these dynamics were satisfied in two of the largest peacetime collapses in modern history: Venezuela (2012–2020) and Zimbabwe (1997–2008). Our theory of economic collapses highlights the role of intra-elite political conflict, providing a contrast to the class-conflict emphasis of much of the existing literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco Rodríguez & Patrick Imam, 2025. "Political growth collapses," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 205(1), pages 183-217, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:205:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-025-01290-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-025-01290-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-025-01290-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-025-01290-5?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

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

    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:kap:pubcho:v:205:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-025-01290-5. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.