Populist Leaders and the Economy

Manuel Funke, Moritz Schularick and Christoph Trebesch

American Economic Review, 2023, vol. 113, issue 12, 3249-88

Abstract: Populism at the country level is at an all-time high, with more than 25 percent of nations currently governed by populists. How do economies perform under populist leaders? We build a new long-run cross-country database to study the macroeconomic history of populism. We identify 51 populist presidents and prime ministers from 1900 to 2020 and show that the economic cost of populism is high. After 15 years, GDP per capita is 10 percent lower compared to a plausible nonpopulist counterfactual. Economic disintegration, decreasing macroeconomic stability, and the erosion of institutions typically go hand in hand with populist rule.

JEL-codes: D72 E23 N10 N40 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
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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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20202045

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