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Title: Are Monarchies Better for Economic Growth? Here's What the Empirical Evidence Says.
Source: Mises.org
URL Source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/04 ... t-the-empirical-evidence-says/
Published: Apr 24, 2021
Author: Lipton Matthews
Post Date: 2021-04-24 10:32:17 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 945
Comments: 22

Hans-Hermann Hoppe has argued that monarchies take a longer-term view of their national economies and therefore are more likely to pursue more stable and secure economies. That is, among monarchs, the desire to maximize wealth promotes more farsightedness than exists in democratic regimes. Due to the lower time preference of monarchs, they are less likely to succumb to the whims of economic populism.

Hoppe outlines this argument in a 1995 article:

A private government owner will predictably try to maximize his total wealth, i.e., the present value of his estate and his current income…. Accordingly, a private government owner will want to avoid exploiting his subjects so heavily, for instance, as to reduce his future earnings potential to such an extent that the present value of his estate actually falls. Instead, in order to preserve or possibly even enhance the value of his personal property, he will systematically restrain himself in his exploitation policies. For the lower the degree of exploitation, the more productive the subject population will be; and the more productive the population, the higher will be the value of the ruler’s parasitic monopoly of expropriation.

A Comparative Analysis

Quite interesting is that research confirms the assumption of Hoppe. According to Mauro Guillen monarchies are more effective than democratic republics at protecting property rights primarily because of their long- term focus. “Monarchies tend to be dynasties, and therefore have a long- term focus,” Guillen says. “If you focus on the long run, you are bound to be more protective of property rights…. You’re more likely to put term limits on politicians that want to abuse their powers.”

Similarly, Guillen in his study points out that monarchies can curtail the negative consequences of internal conflict on property rights:

For instance, the case of Spain has received considerable scholarly attention in terms of both the continuities in the process of transition to democracy during the late 1970s, and the sequencing of political and economic reforms with the crown playing a key role…. The continuity of monarchy in Spain was a major factor in preserving property rights during the political transition. In Portugal, by contrast, a comparable country that made the transition from dictatorship to democracy at roughly the same time but had become a republic back in 1910, nationalized 244 banks and large enterprises during its transition to democracy.

Moreover, Christian Bjørnskov and Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard in their publication “Economic Growth and Institution Reform in Modern Monarchies and Republics: A Historical Cross-Country Perspective, 1820–2000,” present fascinating information: “While large-scale political reforms are typically associated with short term growth declines, reflecting what has become known as the “valley of tears,” the data indicate that this valley does not appear in monarchies. In fact, if anything it has the opposite effect.”

Moreover, the rating agency Standard and Poor’s asserts that monarchies have stronger credit scores and impressive balance sheets relative to republics. Credit analyst Joydeep Mukherji submits that there is no difference between constitutional and absolute monarchies in the assessment of their debt risk. “However, absolute monarchies score higher than constitutional monarchies in external risk and fiscal risk, largely reflecting the strong general government balance sheets and high external asset positions,” he noted.

Like Gullien, Victor Menaldo in “The Middle East and North Africa’s resilient monarchs” posits that monarchies are linked to respect for the rule of law, protection of property rights, and economic growth. As Menaldo shows, the predictability of the political culture embedded by monarchies positively affects the decision to invest: “Given the emergence of a stable political culture … elites and citizens will be encouraged to protect their planning horizons due to longer executive tenures and an institutional succession process. Both elites and citizens will be more likely to make the investments in physical and human capital that encourage capital accumulation and increases in productivity.”

Another argument in favor of monarchies is their relative intolerance for wars, since involvement in warfare has the potential to eviscerate wealth. Though comparing political systems based on the likelihood to wage war is rare, one study written by leading political scientists intuits that premodern monarchies were less likely to fight wars:

There seems ample empirical support for our conjecture that monarchies were less conflict-prone in the pre-modern era. This contradicts the usual impression offered by mythic and historical accounts of kings who make war as a matter of occupation. When Charles Tilly declared that “states make wars and wars make the states”, he was doubtless thinking of kings as instigators. And it is true that the great monarchies (England, France, Spain) had considerably more wars to their credit than their smaller republican neighbors. However, we have seen that this is a product of grandeur rather than truculence. Small monarchies were more peaceful than similarly sized republics.

Suggesting that monarchies display superior characteristics relative to democratic republics does not mean that we should return to the past. However, one cannot criticize monarchy without understanding its strengths and limitations. In much of the world today, there’s a built- in prejudice against monarchies, but the evidence suggests that monarchies—especially small ones—are more peaceful, stable, and protective of private property than their republican neighbors.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 18.

#3. To: Ada (#0)

Anarchy is best.

Lod  posted on  2021-04-24   14:18:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Lod (#3)

Anarchy is best.

I agree, until an organized military effort confronts it. I am in favor of anarchy with some ability to withstand attacks that would surely attempt to take it over.

noone222  posted on  2021-04-25   11:09:56 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: noone222 (#10)

Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee FRSE (15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) was a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who served as Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh.[1]

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”

upload.wikimedia.org/wiki...g/1200px-Tytler_cycle.png

Lod  posted on  2021-04-25   11:49:01 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: Lod (#11)

Not one word regarding anarchy. I favor anarchy and am trying to resolve the problem of deflecting an attack by a nation state. There has to be some military force equivalent to or superior to those forces that would think to invade.

noone222  posted on  2021-04-25   16:31:02 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: noone222 (#12)

We're allowing/inviting the invaders in without one shot being fired.

Pogo nailed it.

Lod  posted on  2021-04-25   22:40:33 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Lod (#13)

We're allowing/inviting the invaders in without one shot being fired.

The current conditions suggest that you are right. I don't think it's because we haven't tried to wake up the neighborhood because many of us have been warning others for a very long time.

I don't think even those of us that have been more aware of the problems knew just how bad things were in D.C.

noone222  posted on  2021-04-26   8:57:58 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: noone222 (#15)

I don't think even those of us that have been more aware of the problems knew just how bad things were in D.C.

And neither did Mr. Trump.

Big Pharma, High Tech, the Media, and on and on seem to be actively and agressively aligned against the country that we once knew.

Lod  posted on  2021-04-26   9:17:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: Lod (#16)

The resistance to this condition will eventually become violent when the normal people become forced to become violent under this Biden fraud being displayed as legitimate and intent upon dictatorial implementation of their radical and immoral agenda.

The "Q" scenario is taking far more time than most "Q" adherents thought it would require and at this point it's hard to believe anything is actually in play to remove the coup party.

noone222  posted on  2021-04-26   9:43:42 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: noone222 (#17)

resistance to this condition will eventually become violent

Most of my life that faith in Americans was set in concrete.

It is no longer a certainty.

This past election, with or without fraud, shows far too many...white Christian Americans... are ignorant stupid and gullible.

I still fault Trump for not cleaning house.

Cynicom  posted on  2021-04-26   10:54:34 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 18.

#19. To: Cynicom (#18)

I still fault Trump for not cleaning house.

ditto !

noone222  posted on  2021-04-26 11:02:35 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 18.

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