Economic growth and institutional reform in modern monarchies and republics: A historical cross-country perspective 1820-2000

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Conventional arguments suggest that republics ought to grow faster than monarchies and experience lower transitional costs following reforms. We employ a panel of 27 countries observed from 1820 to 2000 to estimate these differences. Results show no significant growth differences between the two regime types. Effects of incremental reforms do not differ between them, but those of large-scale reforms do. Specifically, we find a strong valley-of-tears effect of large reforms in republics, and monarchies benefit from such reforms in the ten-year perspective adopted here. We offer some tentative thoughts on the underlying mechanisms responsible for the results.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
Volume170
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)453-481
Number of pages29
ISSN0932-4569
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

ID: 45425001