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Economic Freedom and Economic Crisis

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In this paper, I explore the politically contested association between the degree of capitalism, captured by measures of economic freedom, and the risk and characteristics of economic crisis. After offering some brief theoretical considerations, I estimate the effects of economic freedom on crisis risk in the post-Cold War period 1993-2010. I further estimate the effects on the duration, peak-to-trough GDP ratios and recovery times of 212 crises across 175 countries within this period. Estimates suggest that economic freedom is robustly associated with smaller peak-to-trough ratios and shorter recovery time. These effects are driven by regulatory components of the economic freedom index.

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  • Bjørnskov, Christian, 2015. "Economic Freedom and Economic Crisis," Working Paper Series 1056, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1056
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    Cited by:

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    3. Samuel Brazys & Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, 2021. "Aid curse with Chinese characteristics? Chinese development flows and economic reforms," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 407-430, September.
    4. Rafael Robina Ramirez & Pedro R. Palos-Sanchez, 2018. "Willingness to Comply with Corporate Law: An Interdisciplinary Teaching Method in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    5. Anh‐Tuan Doan & Bich‐Thanh Truong & Chi‐Cuong Nguyen & Phan‐Tam‐Nhu Nguyen & Hai‐Yen Truong & Anh‐Tuan Le, 2023. "Corruption and corporate leverage in an emerging economy: The role of economic freedom," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 599-629, June.
    6. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2020. "Effect of Aid for Trade Unpredictability on Trade Policy in Recipient-Countries," Arthaniti: Journal of Economic Theory and Practice, , vol. 19(2), pages 177-203, December.
    7. Marchionne, Francesco & Pisicoli, Beniamino & Fratianni, Michele, 2022. "Regulation, financial crises, and liberalization traps," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Boudreaux, Christopher J. & Nikolaev, Boris N. & Klein, Peter, 2019. "Socio-cognitive traits and entrepreneurship: The moderating role of economic institutions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 178-196.
    9. Rosolino A. Candela & Vincent Geloso, 2021. "Economic freedom, pandemics, and robust political economy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1250-1266, April.
    10. David A. Burnie, 2021. "Democracy, dictatorship, and economic freedom signals in stock market," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 375-390, January.
    11. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kozłowski, Łukasz & Podgórski, Błażej & Winkler-Drews, Tadeusz, 2020. "Do political connections shield from negative shocks? Evidence from rating changes in advanced emerging economies," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    12. Bennett, Daniel L. & Long, Jason T., 2019. "Is it the economic policy, stupid? Economic policy, political parties & the gubernatorial incumbent advantage," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 118-137.
    13. Juan Cándido Gómez‐Gallego & María del Rocío Moreno‐Enguix & María Gómez‐Gallego, 2022. "The relation between the index of economic freedom and good governance with efficiency of the European Structural Funds," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(2), pages 327-349, April.
    14. Dzhumashev, Ratbek & Hailemariam, Abebe, 2021. "Foreign aid and the quality of economic institutions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Niclas Berggren & Christian Bjørnskov, 2019. "Regulation and government debt," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 153-178, January.
    16. Ryan H. Murphy, 2022. "On Whether the Size of Government Belongs in Economic Freedom Indices," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 19(1), pages 1-47–57, March.
    17. Asteriou, Dimitrios & Pilbeam, Keith & Tomuleasa, Iuliana, 2021. "The impact of corruption, economic freedom, regulation and transparency on bank profitability and bank stability: Evidence from the Eurozone area," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 150-177.
    18. Victor Shevchuk & Roman Kopych, 2021. "Exchange Rate Volatility, Currency Misalignment, and Risk of Recession in the Central and Eastern European Countries," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-19, May.
    19. Marchionne, Francesco & Pisicoli, Beniamino & Fratianni, Michele, 2022. "Regulation and crises: A concave story," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Justin T. Callais & Jamie Bologna Pavlik, 2023. "Does economic freedom lighten the blow? Evidence from the great recession in the United States," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 357-398, September.
    21. Farid Shirazi & Nick Hajli, 2021. "IT-Enabled Sustainable Innovation and the Global Digital Divides," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-24, August.
    22. Jonas Rapsikevicius & Jurgita Bruneckiene & Mantas Lukauskas & Sarunas Mikalonis, 2021. "The Impact of Economic Freedom on Economic and Environmental Performance: Evidence from European Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    23. Tinghui Li & Junhao Zhong & Mark Xu, 2019. "Does the Credit Cycle Have an Impact on Happiness?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, December.
    24. Ali, Qamar & Raza, Ali & Narjis, Saadia & Saeed, Sahrish & Khan, Muhammad Tariq Iqbal, 2020. "Potential of renewable energy, agriculture, and financial sector for the economic growth: Evidence from politically free, partly free and not free countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 934-947.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crisis; Economic freedom; Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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