The Modern World: The Effect of Democracy, Colonialism and War on Economic Growth 1820-2000

Abstract:     
The paper uses the recently available data on growth rates, democracy, protectionism, and wars over the period 1820 to 2000 to look at the determinants of economic growth over the long-term. It is motivated by the following questions: what is the effect of democracy on growth, was colonialism economically bad for colonies, does protectionism affect growth negatively, what is the effect of wars? We find that own democracy has a significant positive impact on growth which increases as country's income goes up. (Overall level of democracy in the world however has no effect on growth.) The effect of colonialism is not statistically significant. Lower average level of protection in the world helps growth. Wars, whether civil or between the states, are strongly detrimental to economic growth.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 65

Keywords: Democracy, protectionism, war, colonialism, communism

JEL Classification: P43, N10, O10

working papers series