Non-democratic governments and growth: Theory and evidence

This paper examines how different kinds of authoritarian regimes may affect long-ron economic growth. On the theoretical side, non-democratic governments are differentiated according to the objectives they are likely to follow when deciding public spending and taxation policies. It is found that growth should be higher under ''benevolent dictator'' regimes, comparatively lower ender ''bureaucratic authoritarian'' regimes, and much slower under ''predatory'' regimes. A classification of non democratic countries into these three categories is attempted according to indicators of economic liberty and of the nature of their economic system. Conditional convergence tests carried out on the basis of this classification support the predictions of the model.