Authoritarianism is good for returns if you are invested in things that go boom, but not for the country as a whole.
Typically authoritarians start on an 'only I/we can fix the problems' platform. They get in, run into reality at full speed, and quickly start covering their asses for their inability to deliver what was promised. First, blame the predecessors, second, blame the 'enemy du jour'. If necessary, start a war and hide behind the flag.
Meanwhile, they don't trust anyone who isn't a loyalist insider, so they tend to favour those loyalists and give them the plums. This is not free market economics, and tends to be quite inefficient and damaging to the economy as a whole.