New tools and new tests in comparative political economy - the database of political institutions

Thorsten Beck, George Clarke, Alberto Groff, Philip Keefer and Patrick Walsh
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Patrick Maurice Walsh () and Patrick Paul Walsh ()

No 2283, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper introduces a large new cross-country database on political institutions: the Database on Political Institutions (DPI). The authors summarize key variables (many of them new), compare this data set with others, and explore the range of issues for which the data should prove invaluable. Among the novel variables they introduce: 1) Several measures of tenure, stability, and checks and balances. 2) Identification of parties with the government coalition or the opposition. 3) Fragmentation of opposition and government parties in legislatures. The authors illustrate the application of DPI variables to several problems in political economy. Stepan and Skach, for example, find that democracy is more likely to survive under parliamentary governments than presidential systems. But this result is not robust to the use of different variables from the DPI, which raises puzzles for future research. Similarly, Roubini and Sachs, find that divided governments in the OECD run higher budget deficits after fiscal shocks. Replication of their work using DPI indicators of divided government indicates otherwise, again suggesting issues for future research. Among questions in political science and economics, that this database may illuminate: the determinants of democratic consolidation, the political conditions for economic reform, the political and institutional roots of corruption, and the elements of appropriate and institutionally sensitive design of economic policy.

Keywords: Decentralization; Parliamentary Government; National Governance; Information Technology; ICT Policy and Strategies; National Governance; Parliamentary Government; ICT Policy and Strategies; Information Technology; Governance Indicators (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-02-29
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (513)

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