Scholarly Comments on Academic Economics

Growth Accelerations and Regime Changes: A Correction

by ,

*Richard Jong-A-Pin* obtained his MSc. in Economics in 2003 from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, where he is currently a PhD student. His research focus lies in political economy—especially the causes and consequences of political instabilit
*Jakob de Haan* is Professor of Political Economy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is also director of SOM, the research institute and graduate school of the faculties of Management and Organisation and Economics of the University of Groninge

Abstract

Hausmann, Pritchett, and Rodrik (2005) found that a political regime change increases the probability of an economic growth acceleration. When we tried to replicate their results we discovered that these authors were led astray by a datadescription error in the Polity IV manual. When we correct for the error and stick to the Polity IV definition of regime change, we find that regime changes do not affect the likelihood that a growth acceleration occurs. We also find some evidence that economic liberalization increases the probability of a growth acceleration (sustained or otherwise).

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Volume (Issue)
Pages
51-58
Published
JEL classification
O17, O11
Keywords
economic growth, growth accelerations, regime changes
Article Downloads (all formats)
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