Research Insights: Do the Economic Effects of Constitutions Depend on the Degree of Institutionalization?
Peer Reviewed
Date issued
Aug 2023
Subject
Political Economy;
Constitution;
Political Institution;
Public Policy;
Elections;
Economy;
Fiscal Policy;
Social Welfare;
Public Expenditure;
Productivity;
Legislature;
Government Budget;
Budget Management;
Economic Policy
JEL code
D78 - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation;
D72 - Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior;
D73 - Bureaucracy • Administrative Processes in Public Organizations • Corruption;
H60 - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt: General;
H62 - Deficit • Surplus;
H20 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General
Category
Catalogs and Brochures
If politics is conducted largely outside of formal arenas, political institutions may not play a very large role in determining policy outcomes. We propose a new index of institutionalization to capture how much policymaking takes place in formal arenas. We find that previous conclusions on the economic effects of constitutionally established majoritarian electoral systems and presidential forms of government are applicable only to countries with high levels of institutionalization.
