Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Konstantin Yanovsky
Author-Name-First:  Konstantin    
Author-Name-Last:  Yanovsky
Author-Workplace-Name: Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy
Author-Name:Rinat Menyashev
Author-Name-First:  Rinat        
Author-Name-Last:  Menyashev
Author-Workplace-Name: National Research University – Higher School of Economics
Title:  Freedom, Ratings and Economic Growth: In Search of Reliable Dependencies
Abstract: Ratings evaluating the quality of institutions are widely known; they are generally used in academic and research literature. Among such ratings are some whose compilation procedure took decades to perfect. Dozens of assessments have been accumulated, pertaining to a large and growing list of countries. All these ratings use expert evaluations with country ranking. We suppose that such evaluations are essentially incompatible with each other, and therefore inapplicable in a comparative study at some one specific point in time chosen for observation (i.e., for a cross-section analysis). We propose a group of variables of our own, using evaluations of “political” institutions only to ascertain the presence or absence of a certain phenomenon (yes/no). Such a set of variables makes a cross-section analysis feasible. The countries' experience in Rule of Law Democracy and Limited Government (both are quite clearly defined in a formal manner) provides a long-term institutional development aggregate evaluation for cross-section analysis.  We also propose a thoroughly simple rating based on combining the proposed variables with indices and indicators which have already become widely accepted, but taking this combination as part of a data panel. At the same time, using a panel regression makes it possible to mitigate the problem of poor compatibility of expert evaluations. 
Length:  30 pages
Creation-Date: 2013
Revision-Date:   2013
Classification-JEL: P50, N40, O43   
Keywords:  Rule of Law Democracy, Limited Government, Institutions quality indicators, Institutions and Economic growth
File-URL: https://www.iep.ru/files/RePEc/gai/wpaper/0063Yanovsky.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: Revised version, 2013
Handle: RePEc:gai:wpaper:0063