1. MS Economics Student, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Variations in Political Institutions and Per Capita GDP growth: A Cross-Country Examination on ASEAN Member States
Ina Judith C. Calabio
MS Economics Student, University of the Philippines Los Baños

2. “The factors we have listed are not causes of
growth; they are growth.”
-North & Thomas, 1973

3. Why are some countries richer than the others?

4. “The fundamental explanation of comparative growth is the differences in the existing institutions across countries.”
-North & Thomas, 1973

5. ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
LEGAL INSTITUTIONS
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
INSTITUTIONS
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS

6. OBJECTIVE
To know whether differences in existing political institutions in the ASEAN member states explain the differences in Per Capita GDP growth of the said member states from period

7. Conceptual Framework
Economic Institutions  𝐸𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡+1
Political power  Economic Institutions
Political Institutions t  De Jure Political Power t

8. Conceptual Framework
Political Institutionst  De Jure Political Powert  Economic Institutionst  Economic Performancet
Political Institutionst Economic Performancet

9. Methodology
Scope: ASEAN countries (excluding Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam due to insufficient data) from
Data and Sources:
World Bank’s Database of Political Institution
World Bank’s data on per Capita GDP and % Share on GDP of Government Expenditure
Transparency International’s data on Corruption Perceptions Index

10. Methodology Random Effects Panel Model
lnGDPperCapitait= αit+ β1CPIit+ β2GovExpit+ β3YRSOFFCit + β4YRCURNTit+ β5TOTALSEATSit+ β6LIECit+ β7EIECit+ γ1 FINITTRMit+ γ2CONSMNRCHYit + γ3SOCREPit + γ4REPit +μit + ɛit

11. Definition of Variables
Type
lnGDPperCapita
GDP per capita PPP at 2011 constant prices (growth)
Dependent Variable; Continuous
CPI
Corruption Perceptions Index
IV; Discrete; Scale
GovExp
Government Expenditure (per capita PPP at 2011 constant prices)
IV; Percentage
YRSOFFC
Number of years in service of the chief executive
IV; Continuous
YRCURNT
Number of years left in current term of the chief executive
TOTALSEATS
Total Seats in the Legislature
IV; Discrete
LIEC
Legislative Index of Electoral Competitiveness
FINITTRM
If there is a constitutional limit on the number of years the executive can serve
IV: Dummy Variable: 1 if yes, 0 otherwise
CONSMNRCHY
Form of Government: Constitutional Monarchy
IV: Dummy Variable: 1 if yeas, 0 otherwise
SOCREP
Form of Government: Socialist Republic
REP
Form of Government:: Republic
PARL
Form of Government: Parliamentary Republic
Base Dummy

12. Results and Discussion
Figure 1. GDP per Capita PPP at 2011 Constant Prices of ASEAN Member States

13. Corruption Perceptions Index

14. Government Expenditure (per capita)

15. Results and Discussion
Table 2. Form of Government from

16. Results and Discussion
Table 3. Estimation Results
R2: (Overall) Prob>Chi2= * Significant at 5%

17. Results and Discussion
Variations in Political Institutions explain the variations in per capita GDP among ASEAN member states
The larger the Government Expenditure (per capita), the larger the GDP per Capita Growth
A parliamentary republic form of government has a positive relationship with per Capita GDP Growth
Negative relationship between Years in office and per Capita GDP

18. Results and Discussion
Total seats in legislature is positively related with per Capita GDP
The positive relationship between a parliamentary republic form of government and per capita GDP can be observed in Singapore

19. Conclusion
Variations in political institutions across ASEAN member states explain the variation in per capita income of the said countries.
Furthermore, this adds to the existing argument that political institutions do matter for development of countries across the globe.

20. Limitations of the Study
Although the study has shown intuitive results, it can still further be improved through adding more variables to represent the political institutions of countries.
The database used by this study offers a large pool of variables but the study only selected a few range of variables.
Also, since the available data on GDP per capita (PPP 2011 constant prices) are only from , it limited the author to a 20-year time period which had not fully covered the shifts in the systems of government of the countries included in this study.
Lastly, although the study aims to speak the results for the whole ASEAN, due to limited data available for Myanmar and Brunei Darussalam, they were not included in the study.

21. THANK YOU!