Populist Leaders and the Economy

Manuel Funke, Moritz Schularick and Christoph Trebesch

No 36, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Populism at the country level is at an all-time high, with more than 25% of nations currently governed by populists. How do economies perform under populist leaders? We build a new cross-country database identifying 50 populist presidents and prime ministers 1900-2018. We find that the economic cost of populism is high. After 15 years, GDP per capita is more than 10% lower compared to a plausible non-populist counterfactual. Rising economic nationalism and protectionism, unsustainable macroeconomic policies, and institutional decay under populist rule do lasting damage to the economy.

Pages: 190 pages
Date: 2020-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econtribute.de/RePEc/ajk/ajkdps/ECONtribute_036_2020.pdf First version, 2020 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2023)
Working Paper: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2023)
Working Paper: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2023)
Working Paper: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2022)
Working Paper: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2022)
Working Paper: Populist Leaders and the Economy (2022)
Working Paper: Populist leaders and the economy (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:036

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