The Effect of Varieties of Capitalism on the Relationship of Institutional Gearing and Economic Growth

Abstract

The ways the firm solves coordination problems with the different stakeholders (or the varieties of capitalism of nations) affect economic performance. Institutional gearing is one of the main determinants of economic growth. Nevertheless, there are no studies that analyse the effect of varieties of capitalism on the relationship of institutional gearing and economic growth. The objective of the paper is to estimate the effect of the variety of capitalism on the relationship between the institutional gearing index and other macroeconomic control variables on the GDP per capita in a group of developed and developing countries. To do that 3 panel data models were estimated: one with fixed effects and two with random effects, for 31 countries for the period 2011-2015. We used 16 Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies and 15 Hierarchical Market Economies. The results showed the varieties of capitalism affect the relationship between institutional gearing and economic growth. In the Coordinated Market Economies and Liberal Market Economies this effect is higher than in Hierarchical Market Economies. Governments of Hierarchical Market Economies should not only apply public policies to build functional institutions, but also encourage the positive complementarities among them.