Shades of red and blue: government ideology and sustainable development

• DOI: 10.1007/s11127-018-0536-2
• Publication Date: 2018-04-04T02:30:23Z
• Authors: Toke S. Aidt; Vitor Castro; Rodrigo Martins
• Keywords: 05 social sciences; 1. No poverty; Government ideology; 12. Responsible consumption; Genuine investment; Sustainable development; Political cycles; 11. Sustainability; 8. Economic growth; 0502 economics and business

We study the effect of government ideology on sustainable development, measured as investment in genuine wealth, in a dynamic panel of 79 countries between 1981 and 2013. We find robust and statistically significant evidence that genuine investment grows faster under right-wing governments than under left-wing or center governments. In contrast, we find no indication of opportunistic cycles.