Institutional determinants of investment in transition economies

Abstract

Investment has been found to be a significant determinant of growth. This paper analyses the effects of institutions and transition progress on investment rates of transition economies since the collapse of the Socialist Bloc. Political institution is measured by the Freedom House’s Political Rights and Civil Liberties indexes; economic institution is proxied by the Index of Economic Freedom compiled by the Heritage Foundation; and transition progress is documented by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s transition index. Panel data estimation techniques are applied and the results show that institutions and transition progress have expected and significant effect on investment rates of transition economies. However, it is the progress in all aspects of economic freedom that matters; just some individual economic freedom measures are significant marginally. Besides, as conditioning variables, growth, saving and financial development (liquid liabilities as % of GDP) are also found to have significant and positive effect on investment in transition economies. This paper highlights the indirect effect of institutions on economic growth via investment.