Exhibit 1170 ยท Journal article
Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II
We find robust evidence that leaders matter, particularly in autocratic settings.
Uses leaders' deaths in office as exogenous turnover. Finds leaders matter for growth, especially autocrats. It is the strongest published counterweight to a pure regime account of persistence. Abstract read (OpenAlex).
- Source
- Jones and Olken, Quarterly Journal of Economics 120(3):835-864
- Date
- August 2005
- Quoted from
- Abstract
- Grade
- Peer-reviewed
- Document
- https://doi.org/10.1162/003355305774268165
- Accessed
- 2026-11-10
- Cited by
- Findings citing this exhibit
- Note
- Standing note: robust identification, cross-country growth outcome, leader effects concentrated where institutions are weakest. It bounds the turnover claim: persistence through turnover should be argued for constrained bureaucracies and rule-bound organizations, not for personalist regimes.