ABSTRACTThis article conducts a time series cross‐sectional analysis of Latin American countries over the period of 1982–1988; it examines the relationship between regime type (civilian/military) and polity type (democratic/authoritarian) on one hand, and economic growth on the other, taking advantage of a specially designed econometric method and the availability of large economic and political data sets. The conclusion from this study is that the economy grows faster under a civilian government than under a military government, and both political rights and civil liberties contribute to gro