Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:47:18.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy and institutions in postcolonial Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2016

ALAN GREEN
ALAN GREEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Stetson University, DeLand, FL, USA
*
*Email: amg84@cornell.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Africa has seen a steady rise in democracy since the end of the Cold War. This paper investigates two possible implications of democratization in African countries: better economic growth through improved institutions and less civil conflict through increased political participation. Instrumental variables regressions are estimated with the spatial lag of democracy. This instrument varies over time, allowing for consideration of country fixed effects in IV regressions. Large positive impacts of institutions on economic growth and of political participation on reducing civil conflict are found in IV regressions with fixed effects. Further estimates show that both growth and civil violence effects may be driven by civil liberties.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 14 , Special Issue 2: Special Issue on Colonial Institutions and African Development , April 2018 , pp. 207 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D. and Johnson, S. (2005), ‘Unbundling Institutions’, Journal of Political Economy, 113 (5): 949–995.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. (2001), ‘The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation’, American Economic Review, 91 (5): 1369–1401.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J. and Yared, P. (2008), ‘Income and Democracy’, American Economic Review, 98 (3): 804–842.Google Scholar
Alfonso-Gil, J., Lacalle-Calderón, M. and Sanchez, R. (2014), ‘Civil Liberty and Economic Growth in the World: A Long-run Perspective, 1850–2010’, Journal of Institutional Economics, 10 (03): 427–449.Google Scholar
BenYishay, A. and Betancourt, R. (2014), ‘Unbundling Democracy: Political Rights and Civil Liberties’, Journal of Comparative Economics, 42 (3): 552–568.Google Scholar
Boix, C. and Stokes, S. (2003), ‘Endogenous Democratization’, World Politics, 55 (4): 517–549.Google Scholar
Coppa, F. (2004), ‘Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1807–1882)’, Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions, http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/dh/gari.htm (accessed June 2, 2009).Google Scholar
Goldstone, J. A., Bates, R. H., Epstein, D. L., Gurr, T. R., Lustik, M. B., Marshall, M. G., Ulfelder, J. and Woodward, M. (2010), ‘A Global Model for Forecasting Political Instability’, American Journal of Political Science, 54 (1): 190–208.Google Scholar
Green, A. (2011), ‘Institutions Matter, but in Surprising Ways: New Evidence on Institutions in Africa’, Kyklos 64 (1): 87–105.Google Scholar
Gundlach, E. and Paldam, M. (2008), Income and Democracy: A Comment on Acemoglu, Johnson, Robinson, and Yared (2008). Institute for the World Economy.Google Scholar
Huntington, S. P. (1996), ‘“Democracy's Third Wave”’, in Diamond, L. and Plattner, M. F. (eds.), The Global Resurgence of Democracy, 2nd ed., Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 3–25.Google Scholar
Knutsen, C. H. (2011), ‘Democracy, Dictatorship and Protection of Property Rights’, The Journal of Development Studies, 47 (1): 164–182.Google Scholar
Kurtz, M. J. and Schrank, A. (2007), ‘Growth and Governance: Models, Measures, and Mechanisms’, Journal of Politics, 69 (2): 538–554.Google Scholar
Manski, C. F. (1993), ‘Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem’, The Review of Economic Studies, 60 (3): 531–542.Google Scholar
Marshall, M. G. (2006), ‘Major Episodes of Political Violence Codebook’, http://www.systemicpeace.org. Accessed June 15, 2016.Google Scholar
Marshall, M. G. and Jaggers, K. (2007), ‘POLITY IV Project: Dataset User's Manual’, http://www.systemicpeace.org. Accessed June 15, 2016.Google Scholar
Miguel, E., Satyanath, S. and Sergenti, E. (2004), ‘Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach’, Journal of Political Economy, 112 (4): 725–753.Google Scholar
Paldam, M. and Gundlach, E. (2008), ‘Two Views on Institutions and Development: The Grand Transition versus the Primacy of Institutions’, Kyklos, 61 (1): 65–100.Google Scholar
Papaioannou, E. and Siourounis, G. (2008), ‘Democratisation and Growth’, The Economic Journal, 118 (532): 1520–1551.Google Scholar
Pemstein, D., Meserve, S. A. and Melton, J. (2010), ‘Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type’, Political Analysis. mpq020Google Scholar
Przeworski, A. and Limongi, F. (1997), ‘Modernization: Theories and facts’, World Politics, 49 (02): 155–183.Google Scholar
Rodrik, D. (2004), ‘Getting Institutions Right’, CESifo DICE Report No. 2, pp. 2–4.Google Scholar
Rodrik, D., Subramanian, A. and Trebbi, F. (2004), ‘Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development’, Journal of Economic Growth, 9 (2): 131–165.Google Scholar
Rodrik, D. and Wacziarg, R. (2005), ‘Do Democratic Transitions Produce Bad Economic Outcomes?’, The American Economic Review, 95 (2): 50–55.Google Scholar
Sala-i-Martin, X. X. (1997), ‘I Just Ran Two Million Regressions’, The American Economic Review, 178–183.Google Scholar
Teorell, J., Dahlberg, S., Holmberg, S., Rothstein, B., Khomenko, A. and Svensson, R. (2016), ‘The Quality of Government Standard Dataset, Version Jan16’, University of Gothenburg: The Quality of Government Institute, http://www.qog.pol.gu.se. doi:10.18157/QoGStdJan16.Google Scholar
Van de Walle, N. (1999), ‘Economic Reform in a Democratizing Africa’, Comparative Politics, 21–41.Google Scholar
Vanhanen, T. (2000), ‘A New Dataset for Measuring Democracy, 1810-1998’, Journal of Peace Research, 37 (2): 251–265.Google Scholar