Arbeitspapier

No country for old men: Aging dictators and economic growth

This paper develops a model of the relationship between the age of a dictator and economic growth. In the model a dictator must spread the resources of the economy over his reign but faces mortality and political risk. The model shows that if the time horizon of the dictator decreases, either due to an increase of mortality risk or political risk, the economic growth rate decreases. The model predictions are supported by empirical evidence based on a threeway fixed effects model including country, year and dictator fixed effects for a sample of dictators from 116 countries. These results are robust to sample selection, the tenure of dictators, the definition of dictatorship, and a broad set of economic growth determinants.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: KOF Working Papers ; No. 289

Classification
Wirtschaft
Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government
Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
Institutions and Growth
Subject
Aging
economic growth
government performance
political instability
political leaders
Diktatur
Staatsoberhaupt
Sterblichkeit
Wirtschaftswachstum
Politische Stabilität
Systemvergleich
Welt

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Jong-A-Pin, Richard
Mierau, Jochen O.
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute
(where)
Zurich
(when)
2011

DOI
doi:10.3929/ethz-a-006668259
Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Jong-A-Pin, Richard
  • Mierau, Jochen O.
  • ETH Zurich, KOF Swiss Economic Institute

Time of origin

  • 2011

Other Objects (12)