The institutional environment for economic growth
Abstract
This article forges an explicit link between an objective measure of political constraints and variation in cross‐national growth rates. It derives a new measure of political constraints from a simple spatial model of political interaction that incorporates information on the number of independent branches of government with veto power and the distribution of preferences across and within those branches. The derived variable is found to have a statistically and economically significant impact on growth rates using simple ordinary least squares, three‐stage least squares and generalized method of moments estimation techniques.
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The POLCON index is designed as an indicator of the ability of political institutions to make credible commitments to an existing policy regime, which Henisz argues is the most relevant political variable of interest to investors.
“Henisz has designed his index as an indicator of the ability of political institutions to make credible commitments to an existing policy regime, which he argues is the most relevant political variable of interest to investors.”
From Do bilateral investment treaties increase foreign direct investment to developing countries? (2005) · cites this paper as Henisz (2000)
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- Authors
- Henisz, W. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Henisz, W. J.
- ORCID
- Henisz, W. J.
- Venue
- Economics & Politics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-31
- ISSN
- 0954-1985 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-0343
- OpenAlex
- W1968452906
- Cited by
- 1,651
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 45 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 80 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 66 · 2016: 69 · 2015: 79 · 2014: 92 · 2013: 80 · 2012: 78
- FWCI
- 118.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Economics and Politics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Corruption and Economic Development
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Economic Growth and Productivity
- Social Sciences › Demography › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Keywords
- political constraints, economic growth, institutional environment, veto power, political economy
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