Duration of heads of state in power and economic growth: a Sub-Saharan African tale

Hibrahim Limi Kouotou () and Boniface Ngah Epo ()
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Hibrahim Limi Kouotou: University of Yaoundé II
Boniface Ngah Epo: University of Yaoundé II

Economics Bulletin, 2022, vol. 42, issue 2, 1153 - 1170

Abstract: This paper scrutinizes the effect of the duration of Heads of State in power on economic growth using a panel of 41 Sub-Saharan African countries spanning the period 1990 to 2016. We test for both the linear and non-linear effects of duration of Head of State in power by adopting a linear and quadratic function of this relationship and thereon compute the optimal threshold of the stay in power. Results obtained from the empirical estimations indicate that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between duration of Heads of State in power and economic growth which is positive before the optimal threshold of twelve years and negative beyond. Nonetheless, this threshold varies when we account for linguistic specificities suggesting that on average English-speaking African countries have a threshold of eleven years whereas the French-speaking African countries have a threshold of fifteen years. For Lusophone/other linguistic-speaking African countries, we also find an inverted U-shaped relationship which is however not significant.

Keywords: Duration in power; economic growth; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06-30
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