Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:37:56.449Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Hayek–Friedman hypothesis on the press: is there an association between economic freedom and press freedom?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2017

CHRISTIAN BJØRNSKOV
CHRISTIAN BJØRNSKOV*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Stockholm, Sweden
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Hayek–Friedman hypothesis states that economic freedom is causally associated with stable democracy. I test a particular element of the hypothesis focusing on press freedom, which is arguably a necessary component of any democratic polity. Combining the Freedom House index of press freedom and the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom yields a large annual panel dataset between 1993 and 2011. Estimates show that improvements in economic freedom are associated with subsequent improvements of press freedom. The overall association is mainly driven by changes in market openness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , August 2018 , pp. 617 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. A. (2006), Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Alves, A. A. and Meadowcroft, J. (2014), ‘Hayek's slippery slope, the stability of the mixed economy and the dynamics of rent-seeking’, Political Studies, 62 (4): 843–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arrese, Á. (2017), ‘The role of economic journalism in political transitions’, Journalism, 18 (3): 368–83.Google Scholar
Berggren, N. (2003), ‘The benefits of economic freedom: a survey’, Independent Review, 8 (2): 193–211.Google Scholar
Bergh, A. (2014), Sweden and the Revival of the Capitalist Welfare State, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjørnskov, C. (2015), ‘Does economic freedom really kill? On the association between ‘neoliberal policies’ and homicide rates’, European Journal of Political Economy, 37: 207–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjørnskov, C. and Freytag, A. (2016), ‘An offer you can't refuse: murdering journalists as an enforcement mechanism of corrupt deals’, Public Choice, 167 (3–4): 221–43.Google Scholar
Brambor, T., Clark, W. R. and Golder, M. (2006), ’Understanding interaction models: Improving empirical analyses, Political Analysis, 14 (1): 63–82.Google Scholar
Cheibub, J. A., Gandhi, J. and Vreeland, J. R. (2010), ‘democracy and dictatorship revisited’, Public Choice, 143 (1–2): 67–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Haan, J. and Sturm, J-E. (2003), ‘Does more democracy lead to greater economic freedom? New evidence for developing countries’, European Journal of Political Economy, 19 (3): 547–63.Google Scholar
De Soysa, I. and Vadlamannati, K. C. (2013), ‘Do pro-market reforms drive human rights violations? An empirical assessment, 1981–2006’, Public Choice, 155 (1–2): 163–87.Google Scholar
Djankov, S., McLiesh, C., Nenova, T. and Shleifer, A. (2003), ‘Who owns the media?’ Journal of Law and Economics, 46 (2): 341–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreher, A. (2006), ‘Does globalization affect growth? Empirical evidence from a new index’, Applied Economics, 38 (10): 1091–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutta, N. and Williamson, C. R. (2016), ‘Can foreign aid free the press?’ Journal of Institutional Economics, 12 (3): 603–21.Google Scholar
Egorov, G., Guriev, S. and Sonin, K. (2009), ‘Why resource-poor dictators allow freer media: a theory and evidence from panel data’, American Political Science Review, 103 (4): 645–68.Google Scholar
Enikolopov, R. and Petrova, M. (2016), ‘Media capture: empirical evidence’, in Anderson, S. P., Strömberg, D., and Waldfogel, J. (eds), Handbook of Media Economics, Amsterdam: Elsevier, Chapter 17.Google Scholar
Farrant, A. and McPhail, E. (2009), ‘Hayek, Samuelson, and the logic of the mixed economy?’ Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 69 (1): 5–16.Google Scholar
Freedom House (2015), Freedom of the Press 2015, Washington DC: Freedom House.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1962), Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Giavazzi, F. and Tabellini, G. (2005), ‘Economic and political liberalizations’, Journal of Monetary Economics, 52 (7): 1297–330.Google Scholar
Gwartney, J. D., Lawson, R. A. and Hall, J. (2015), Economic Freedom of the World. 2015 Annual Report. Vancouver BC: Economic Freedom Network.Google Scholar
Hahnel, R. (2009), ‘Why the market subverts democracy’, American Behavioural Scientist, 52 (7): 1006–22.Google Scholar
Hall, J. and Lawson, R. A. (2014), ‘Economic freedom of the world: An accounting of the literature’, Contemporary Economic Policy, 32 (1): 1–19.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. (1944), The Road to Serfdom, Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. (1960), The Constitution of Liberty. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Henisz, W. (2002), ‘The institutional environment for infrastructure investment’, Industrial and Corporate Change, 11 (2): 355–89.Google Scholar
Heritage Foundation (2015), 2015 Index of Economic Freedom: Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity, Washington DC: Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal.Google Scholar
Heston, A., Summers, R. and Aten, B. (2012), Penn World Tables Version 7.1, Philadelphia: Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Justesen, M. K. (2014), ‘Better safe than sorry: how property rights and veto players jointly affect economic growth’, Comparative Politics, 46 (2): 147–67.Google Scholar
Keefer, P. and Stasavage, D. (2003), ‘The limits of delegation: veto players, central bank independence and the credibility of monetary policy’, American Political Science Review, 97 (3): 407–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, G. (2013), ‘Property-owning democracy and the priority of liberty’, Analyse und Kritik, 35 (1): 71–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, R. A. and Clark, J. R. (2010), ‘Examining the Hayek–Friedman hypothesis on economic and political freedom’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 74 (3): 230–9.Google Scholar
Leeson, P. T. (2008), ‘Media freedom, political knowledge, and participation’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22 (2): 155–69.Google Scholar
Leeson, P. T. and Coyne, C. J. (2005), ‘Manipulating the media’, Institutions and Economic Development, 1 (2): 67–92.Google Scholar
Morlino, L. (2004), ‘What is “good” democracy?’ Democratization, 11 (5):10–32.Google Scholar
Mousseau, M. (2000), ‘Market prosperity, democratic consolidation, and democratic peace’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 44 (4): 472–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munoz, B. (2013), ‘The media and the citizen in Venezuela’, New Yorker, August.Google Scholar
Møller, J. and Skaaning, S.-E. (2013), ‘Autocracies, democracies, and the violation of civil liberties’, Democratization, 20 (1): 82–106.Google Scholar
Nizalova, O. Y. and Murtazashvili, I. (2016), ‘Exogenous treatment and endogenous factors: vanishing of omitted variable bias on the interaction term’, Journal of Econometric Methods, 5 (1): 71–7.Google Scholar
Nyström, K. (2008), ‘The institutions of economic freedom and entrepreneurship: evidence from panel data’, Public Choice, 136 (3–4): 269–82.Google Scholar
Olssen, M. (2010), Liberalism, Neoliberalism, Social Democracy. Thin Communitarian Perspectives on Political Philosophy and Education, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
O'Reilly, C. and Powell, B. (2015), ‘War and the growth of government’, European Journal of Political Economy, 40: 31–41.Google Scholar
Petrova, M. (2011), ‘Newspapers and Parties: how advertising revenues created an independent press’, American Political Science Review, 105 (4): 790–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitlik, H., Redin, D. M. and Rode, M. (2015), ‘Economic freedom, individual perceptions of life control, and life satisfaction’, in Gwartney, J. D., Lawson, R. A., and Hall, J. (eds), Economic Freedom of the World: 2015 Annual Report, Vancouver: Fraser Institute, pp. 185–202.Google Scholar
Pryor, F. L. (2010), ‘Capitalism and freedom?’ Economic Systems, 34 (1): 91–104.Google Scholar
Reich, R. (2009), ‘How capitalism is killing democracy’, Foreign Policy, 12.Google Scholar
Rode, M. and Gwartney, J. D. (2012), ‘Does democratization facilitate economic liberalization?’ European Journal of Political Economy, 28 (4): 607–19.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. (1970, Economics (8th edition), New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. (1997), ‘Democracy as a universal value’, Journal of Democracy, 10 (3): 3–17.Google Scholar
Stier, S. (2015), ‘Democracy, autocracy, and the news: the impact of regime type on media freedom’, Democratization, 22 (7): 1273–95Google Scholar
Stilz, A. (2014), ‘Is the free market fair?’ Critical Review, 26 (3–4): 423–38.Google Scholar
Strömberg, D. (2015), ‘Media and politics’, Annual Review of Economics, 7: 173–205.Google Scholar
Zencey, E. (2012), The Other Road to Serfdom and the Path to Sustainable Democracy, Hanover: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Zingales, L. (2012), A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Wintrobe, R. (1998), The Political Economy of Dictatorship, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar