Words speak louder than actions: The impact of politics on economic performance

Steffen Osterloh ()

Journal of Comparative Economics, 2012, vol. 40, issue 3, 318-336

Abstract: In this paper, a new approach to disclose the impact of politics on economic growth is presented: data derived from content analysis of party manifestos is used as measures of party preferences. In a panel of 23 OECD countries, a positive impact of party support for various market-liberal policies on economic performance can be detected. In particular, I show that parties which were more concerned with market interventions and – to a lesser extent – welfare state policies impacted on growth negatively; those which proposed incentives for business as well as technology and infrastructure had a positive impact. Moreover, the robustness of the results is demonstrated in a model averaging framework.

Keywords: Economic growth; Political economy; Ideology; Panel data; Model averaging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 O40 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:40:y:2012:i:3:p:318-336

DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2012.05.004

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