Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52099 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5643
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the empirical role of violent conflicts for the causal effect of democracy on economic growth. Exploiting within-country variation to identify the effect of democratization during the Third Wave, we find evidence that the effect of democratization is weaker than reported previously once one accounts for the incidence of conflict, while the incidence of conflict itself significantly reduces growth. The results show in turn that permanent democratic transitions significantly reduce the incidence and onset of conflict, which suggests that part of the positive growth effect of democratization arises because democratization reduces conflict incidence. When accounting for the role of violence during democratization, we find evidence that peaceful transitions to democracy have a significant positive effect on growth that is even larger than reported in the previous literature, while violent transitions to democracy have no, or even negative, effects on economic growth.
Subjects: 
democratization
armed conflict
civil war
economic growth
democratization scenario
peaceful transition
JEL: 
O43
N10
N40
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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