Do output contractions trigger democratic change?

05 March 2010Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, the authors examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, they use variation in precipitation, temperatures, and commodity prices as instruments for a country’s rate of economic growth. The results indicate that more rapid economic growth reduces the short-run likelihood of institutional change toward democracy. Output contractions due to adverse weather shocks appear to have a particularly important impact on the timing of democratic change. 

Noticeboard

07 March 2012

In May 2011 the Federal Government announced that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) would commence operations from 1 July 2012 and that it would initially be responsible for determining the legal status of groups seeking charitable, public benevolent institution, and other not-for-profit (NFP) benefits on behalf of all Commonwealth agencies. 

01 March 2012


The Productivity Commission has been asked to report within 9 months on Regulatory Impact Analysis: Benchmarking. The study requires a benchmarking of the efficiency and quality of regulatory impact analysis processes used by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, as well as those of the Council of Australian Governments.
20 December 2011

On 18 November 2011, Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.