How Populism Harms Prosperity: Unified Populist Rule Reduces Investment, Innovation, and Productivity
Beatrice Magistro,
Victor Menaldo
Abstract:The economic cost of populism is high. This paper finds that when a populist executive rules alongside a populist majority in the legislature, this reduces a country’s growth rate of real per capita income considerably for over a decade, before returning to the pre-populist equilibrium. We also outline the mechanics behind these numbers and provide systematic evidence for our argument. Unified populist governments engage in protectionism, inefficient redistribution and financial repression that undermines prod… Show more
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