In his research Erik Meyersson has tried to find out whether military coups overthrowing autocratic or democratically-elected leaders cause different consequences for economic development. Using a dataset of 457 individual coup attempts in 94 countries during the post-World War II era and employing several empirical strategies including comparing of successful versus failed coup attempts, matching methods, as well as panel data techniques, professor Meyersson shows that a military coup overthrowing democratically elected leaders may have very different consequences than overthrowing government in more autocratic countries.

Tyler Cowen, a Bloomberg View columnist and a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, recognises Professor Erik Meyersson's recent working paper "Political Man on Horseback Coups and Development" as the most comprehensive look at the question whether military coups affect economic development.

This type of coups tend to reverse important economic reforms, especially in the financial sector while also leading to increased indebtedness and overall deteriorating net external financial position, and an increased propensity to suffer severe economic crises. Analysis of coups overthrowing democratically elected leaders exposes reduction in social spending that suggests a shift in economic priorities away from the masses to the benefit of political and economic elites.  

Download the working paper "Political Man on Horseback Coups and Development" here or read it on SITE's Slideshare channel below.