Premium
Do Liberalising Reforms Harm the Environment? Evidence from the Post‐Communist Transition
Author(s) -
Bjørnskov Christian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
economic affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1468-0270
pISSN - 0265-0665
DOI - 10.1111/ecaf.12277
Subject(s) - autocracy , harm , economic freedom , openness to experience , communism , politics , democracy , economics , capitalism , political freedom , empirical evidence , economic reform , economic system , political economy , development economics , political science , market economy , law , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , epistemology
Whether or not economic freedom and capitalism are associated with better or worse environmental performance gives rise to a heated political debate. This article sheds empirical light on the debate by examining the association between economic and political freedom on the one hand and environmental performance on the other. Estimating the effects of economic freedom and democracy on four environmental measures since 1993 across 27 formerly communist countries shows that liberalising the size of the public sector is associated with less environmental damage, although only in autocracies. The consequences of regulatory activity, market openness and the rule of law are more mixed.