Please just us for a luncheon discussion as part of an ongoing roundtable series on “The Economics of the Arab Transitions” with Caroline Freund, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She will present the key findings from her recent paper: “Regime Change, Democracy, and Growth,” followed by a discussion.
 
The research on the relationship between democracy and growth has yielded conflicting results. Cross-country studies have failed to identify a significant impact of democracy on growth. Freund and co-author Mélise Jaud reconcile the conflicting evidence by showing that the positive effect of democratic transitions results from regime change as opposed to democratization. The authors conclude that rapid regime change (taking 3 years or less) yields a significant long-run growth premium irrespective of whether or to what extent democracy is achieved, and that transition to democracy yields no growth dividend compared to other types of regime change. Please join us for this fascinating discussion on the impact of regime change on growth, and the implications for the Arab transitions.
 
Please note this invitation is transferable only by request.