Shades of red and blue: government ideology and sustainable development

Abstract

We study the effect of government ideology on sustainable development, measured as investment in genuine wealth, in a dynamic panel of 79 countries between 1981 and 2013. We find robust and statistically significant evidence that genuine investment grows faster under right-wing governments than under left-wing or center governments. In contrast, we find no indication of opportunistic cycles.

Government ideology and economic freedom

“…Additionally, our results also show them as more prone to boost freedom to trade internationally and to ease regulations that restrict entry into markets or limit the freedom of exchange in credit, labor, or product markets. In particular, this evidence for Regulation corroborates the claim in the literature that right-wing governments are more prone to deregulate the economy (Potrafke, 2010;Potrafke, 2012, 2013;Aidt et al, 2018). 21 Regarding the political and socio-economic controllers, a better democratic environment helps to boost the role of the legal system and rule of law; the results for output per capita are mixed:…”

Does ICT maturity catalyse economic development? Evidence from a panel data estimation approach in OECD countries

“…Research has shown that the quality of the environment is a significant predictor of economic development ( Jingfeng and Zhao’an, 2018 , Shahiduzzaman and Alam, 2014 , Shahiduzzaman and Alam, 2017 ). Existing research has also shown that the ideological stance of a country’s ruling political party affects its overall economic development by inducing partisan cycles in society’s savings, investment and capital stocks ( Aidt et al, 2018 , Potrafke, 2017 ). More specifically, accelerated investment attributed to economic conservatism initiated by right-wing parties seems to drive developed countries to the path of economic development ( Aidt et al, 2018 , Potrafke, 2017 ).…”

“…Existing research has also shown that the ideological stance of a country’s ruling political party affects its overall economic development by inducing partisan cycles in society’s savings, investment and capital stocks ( Aidt et al, 2018 , Potrafke, 2017 ). More specifically, accelerated investment attributed to economic conservatism initiated by right-wing parties seems to drive developed countries to the path of economic development ( Aidt et al, 2018 , Potrafke, 2017 ). Nevertheless, Srinivasan (1994) pointed out that measures of political well-being and income inequality are the major determinants of human development, which have been ignored in the theorisation of UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI).…”

“… Variable Mean Med Min Max Std Description Reference HDI 0.87 0.88 0.70 0.95 0.05 The Human Development Index is a composite measure of three key dimensions of human development, namely healthy and long life, knowledge and a decent standard of living Asongu and Le Roux (2017) , Aidt et al (2018) ; Ranis (2004) ; Shahiduzzaman and Alam (2017) GDPG 1.80 1.98 −14.72 25.56 3.66 Annual gross domestic product growth (%) Ranis (2004) Gini 31.39 30.95 22.50 52.40 6.14 Gini index on income inequality Srinivasan (1994) PE 11.76 11.58 5.54 18.27 2.42 Public expenditure in education and health (as % of GDP) Ranis et al (2000) MIMLI 7.10 7.12 3.55 9.50 1.17 The Modified ICT Maturity Level Index score Asongu and Le Roux (2017) ...…”

The Meaningful Votes: Voting on Brexit in the British House of Commons

“…For a comparative study of the UK and the US, see Kirkland and Slapin (2018) and for a study of the European Parliament see Benedetto and Hix (2007). For a study of the consequences of government ideology, see Aidt et al (2018).…”