On Impacts of Economic Growth
Abstract
This thesis presents four papers on impacts of economic growth. The results indicate that faster economic growth improves the short-run political survival prospects of national leaders in both democracies and autocracies, and reduces the short-run likelihood of democratic change. Results also indicate that long-run economic growth sees countries climb an "electricity ladder", substituting away from hydroelectricity and oil-fired electricity and toward electricity generated using coal and natural gas, and finally to nuclear power and modern renewables such as wind power. The extent to which countries climb the electricity ladder as they develop is a function of indigenous energy resources: countries with large endowments of hydro potential or fossil fuels are less likely to adopt nuclear power and modern renewables than otherwise similar countries. Countries that climb to the upper rungs of the electricity ladder are far more likely to experience environmental Kuznets curve-type downturns in carbon dioxide emissions. The results have important implications for actors who wish to encourage political change, and for climate change mitigation action.