The logic of hereditary rule: theory and evidence
Timothy Besley and
Marta Reynal-Querol (marta.reynal@upf.edu)
Additional contact information
Marta Reynal-Querol: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Journal of Economic Growth, 2017, vol. 22, issue 2, No 1, 123-144
Abstract:
Abstract Hereditary leadership has been an important feature of the political landscape throughout history. This paper argues that hereditary leadership is like a relational contract which improves policy incentives. We assemble a unique dataset on leaders between 1874 and 2004 in which we classify them as hereditary leaders based on their family history. The core empirical finding is that economic growth is higher in polities with hereditary leaders but only if executive constraints are weak. Moreover, this holds across of a range of specifications. The finding is also mirrored in policy outcomes which affect growth. In addition, we find that hereditary leadership is more likely to come to an end when the growth performance under the incumbent leader is poor.
Keywords: Growth; Hereditary Institutions; Political agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 N40 O11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)
Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10887-017-9140-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
Related works:
Working Paper: The Logic of Hereditary Rule: Theory and Evidence (2017)
Working Paper: The logic of hereditary rule: theory and evidence (2017)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jecgro:v:22:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10887-017-9140-4
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... th/journal/10887/PS2
DOI: 10.1007/s10887-017-9140-4
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of Economic Growth is currently edited by Oded Galor
More articles in Journal of Economic Growth from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla (sonal.shukla@springer.com) and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (indexing@springernature.com).