Democracy for Better Governance and Higher Economic Growth in the MENA Region?

Mustapha K. Nabli and Carlos Silva-Jáuregui

Chapter 3 in Corruption, Development and Institutional Design, 2009, pp 37-67 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Democracy is valued in itself. The extent to which a citizen is able to live in an open society and participate in its democratic process directly affects his/her wellbeing. But democracy can also affect welfare indirectly through its effects on other aspects of the social and economic interactions that influence the wellbeing of people. Democracy can often positively affect the relative rights of social groups, such as gender-specific groups or minorities. In the economic area democracy may affect the distribution of income, with democracies, for instance, tending to pay higher wages and improve human capital. It may also affect the volatility of incomes, with democracies tending to produce fewer recessions and affect the economic rate of growth. Nobel Prize Laureate Amartya Sen observes that famines never occurred under democratic regimes.

Keywords: Nobel Prize; Financial Economic; Open Society; Democratic Regime; Democratic Process (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:intecp:978-0-230-24217-3_3

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230242173_3

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