Democracy and Reforms: Evidence from a New Dataset

Author/Editor:

Antonio Spilimbergo ; Paola Giuliano ; Prachi Mishra

Publication Date:

July 1, 2010

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary:

Empirical evidence on the relationship between democracy and economic reforms is limited to few reforms, countries, and years. This paper studies the impact of democracy on the adoption of economic reforms using a new dataset on reforms in the financial, capital and banking sectors, product markets, agriculture, and trade for 150 countries over the period 1960 - 2004. Democracy has a positive and significant impact on the adoption of economic reforms but there is no evidence that economic reforms foster democracy. Our results are robust to the inclusion of a large variety of controls and estimation strategies.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2010/173

Subject:

English

Publication Date:

July 1, 2010

ISBN/ISSN:

9781455201846/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2010173

Pages:

39

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