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Does Economic Freedom Boost Growth for Everyone?

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Abstract

While the association between economic freedom and long-run economic growth is well documented, the parallel research literature on the distributional consequences of economic freedom is full of conflicting findings. In this paper, we take a step towards reconciling the two literatures by exploring the within-quintile growth consequences of changes in three different types of economic freedom: the size of government, institutional quality and policy quality. While the associations are theoretically ambiguous, we find evidence that economic freedom affects all parts of the income distribution equally, and some indications that the growth effects are largest for the poorest and richest quintiles.

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  • Bergh, Andreas & Bjørnskov, Christian, 2019. "Does Economic Freedom Boost Growth for Everyone?," Working Paper Series 1276, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1276
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    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).
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    3. Nguyen Tan Hung & Tran Thi Kim Oanh & Chu Thi Thanh Trang, 2024. "The impact of economic freedom on economic growth in countries with high and low regulatory quality—lessons for Viet Nam," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Regina Pleninger & Jakob de Haan & Jan‐Egbert Sturm, 2022. "The ‘Forgotten’ middle class: An analysis of the effects of globalisation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 76-110, January.
    5. Justin T. Callais & Vincent Geloso, 2023. "Intergenerational income mobility and economic freedom," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 732-753, January.
    6. Luo, Shiyue & Yu, Mengyao & Dong, Yilan & Hao, Yu & Li, Changping & Wu, Haitao, 2024. "Toward urban high-quality development: Evidence from more intelligent Chinese cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic freedom; Liberalization; Economic growth; Income inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • 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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