TESTING FOR THE EXISTENCE OF POLITICO-ECONOMIC CYCLES IN GHANA

Abstract

The abuse of incumbency during elections in order to retain power by ruling governments has become a contentious issue in political economics. This study was set to examine the effect elections and other macroeconomic variables on growth in Ghana. Data for the estimation was collected for the period, 1992-2010, during which Ghana has had an uninterrupted democratic elections. The results of the analysis show that political cycles do not exist in Ghana, which lends support to the views of (Ito and Park, 1999; Alesina et al, 1992, 1993; Brender and Drazen, 2005). Nonetheless, pre-election manipulations of some sort is a common phenomenon as its manifestation becomes glare as abuse of incumbency is noticed even though data do not suggest so. The implication is that abuse of incumbency may exist but not to the extent that creates political cycles.

Keywords: Political Cycles, opportunistic Models, Partisan Models, Contractionary Monetary Policies, Phillips Curve, Stationarity Test, Unit Root Test.