Curse of Democracy: Evidence from the 21st Century Yusuke Narita

Researchers examine the impacts of democracy on economic growth and public health over time.

Utilizing five different instrumental variable strategies, researchers find that the previous trend of democracy contributing to positive developments in the economy and in public health have not persisted in the 21st century. They find that democracies have less investment and trade, causing slower growth.

Abstract and Citation

Yusuke Narita, Ayumi Sudo. Curse of Democracy: Evidence from the 21st Century. September 2021. arXiv:2104.07617v3

Abstract

Democracy is widely believed to contribute to economic growth and public health in the 20th and earlier centuries. We find that this conventional wisdom is reversed in this century, i.e., democracy has persistent negative impacts on GDP growth during 2001-2020. This finding emerges from five different instrumental variable strategies. Our analysis suggests that democracies cause slower growth through less investment and trade. For 2020, democracy is also found to cause more deaths from Covid-19.

Publication Link

https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.07617

Page Count

Revision Date

September 2021