Open AccessAuthoritarian Regimes and Economic Development: An Empirical Reflection
Author(s) -
Karim Khan,
Saima Batool,
Anwar Shah
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v55i4i-iipp.657-673
Subject(s) - dictatorship , endogeneity , human development index , economics , democracy , autocracy , authoritarianism , human development (humanity) , development economics , index (typography) , politics , development aid , per capita , economic growth , political science , econometrics , sociology , population , demography , world wide web , computer science , law
Since the recent emphasis on institutions for overall economicdevelopment of the countries, the research in this strand has expandedenormously. In this study, we want to see the impact of politicalinstitutions on economic development in pure cross-country setting. Wetake the Human Development Index (HDI) as a measure of economicdevelopment and use two alternative measures of dictatorship. We findthat dictatorship is adversely affecting economic development in oursample of 92 countries. For instance, transition from extremedictatorship to ideal democracy would increase HDI by 17 percent.Moreover, our results are robust to alternative specifications and theproblems of endogeneity and reverse causation as is shown by the resultsof 2 Stages Least Squares (2SLS). JEL Classification: P16, H11, H41, H42Keywords: Economic Development, Human Development Index,Dictatorship