Where ideology matters: evidence from a global analysis of market intervention policies

Abstract While many studies argue that the ideology of governments affects their policies, most research has focused on OECD countries. This narrow scope is because of a lack of data and common assumptions that political institutions in non-OECD countries extinguish the impact of government ideology. This article challenges these assumptions by analyzing a new dataset on the ideological orientation of governments in 182 countries since 1945. Focusing on market intervention policies, fixed-effects estimates show that government ideology influences certain market intervention tools worldwide, including in non-OECD countries. The analysis further suggests that ideology matters more in countries with fewer constraints on the executive. But counter to common expectations, ideology does not seem to matter more in countries with strong states, democratic institutions, and little clientelism. The findings have important implications for the study of partisan politics, political institutions, and politics in young and non-democracies.