Growth models and the question of popular legitimacy

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the novelties brought into contemporary political economic analysis by the burgeoning growth model literature is that legitimacy is inherent to the politics of growth. However, the way popular legitimacy is understood in this literature remains limited to discursive acts, namely public discourse by state officials and political parties. We argue, instead, that growth model legitimation towards groups outside the dominant social bloc also includes material (re-)distribution measures. Furthermore, these measures may not necessarily be in line with growth requirements or with growth-model logic, and may even be counter-productive to those requirements. We demonstrate our arguments by analyzing the Israeli case, where legitimacy problems of an export-led growth model led the government to implement legitimacy-seeking policies that included the liberalization of consumer-goods imports and of credit for households and small business.