VC_RM_econfreedom.pdf (684.06 kB)
Government ideology and economic freedom
journal contribution
posted on 2020-07-20, 08:16 authored by Vitor CastroVitor Castro, Rodrigo MartinsThis paper tests the widespread belief that right-wing governments tend to promote economic freedom while left-wing ones prefer more control over the economy. Using annual data for 106 countries over the period 1975-2015 and a two-step system GMM estimator, this study shows that right-wing governments are indeed more prone to promote economic freedom and to deregulate the economy. It also finds that this effect seems to be stronger in developing/emerging economies than in more developed countries. Moreover, the analysis of the broad dimensions of economic freedom indicates that right-wing governments tend to act by improving monetary soundness and freedom to trade internationally and by easing regulations that restrict entry into markets. Mainstream left-wing governments do not seem to affect economic freedom, however populist left-wing parties, when in office, are found to have a detrimental effect.
History
School
- Business and Economics
Department
- Economics
Published in
Journal of Comparative EconomicsVolume
49Issue
1Pages
73-91Publisher
ElsevierVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Rights holder
© Association for Comparative Economic StudiesPublisher statement
This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Journal of Comparative Economics and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2020.07.007.Acceptance date
2020-07-19Publication date
2020-07-22Copyright date
2020ISSN
0147-5967Publisher version
Language
- en
Depositor
Dr Vitor Castro. Deposit date: 20 July 2020Usage metrics
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