Democratic Institutions and Variability of Economic Growth in Pakistan: Some Evidence from the Time-series Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the empirical association between democracy and per capita output growth in Pakistan using data for the period 1947 to 2006. The findings of the paper indicate a weak negative association between democracy and output growth. Consistent with some current empirical literature, democracy is also found to influence output growth indirectly. The empirical results are robust to different democracy variables and output growth equation specifications. The empirical findings also highlight the role of other variables in determining output growth and, except for rising oil prices, show its positive linkage to physical and human capital, government consumption, openness of trade practices and inflation. JEL classification: C22, O43 Keywords: Democracy, Growth, Time-series