Political liberty and social development: An empirical investigation

Frank Vorhies and Fred Glahe

Public Choice, 1988, vol. 58, issue 1, 45-71

Abstract: Liberty is not only economic; it is political. Whether the economic system promotes social development is one question. Whether the political system promotes social development is another question. The empirical investigations indicate that for the world political liberty has a small, though significant relationship with the level of social development. By investigating groupings of alternative economic systems, it is clear that global policies to increase political liberty will not necessarily bring about desired results. In the Socialist, Mixed Socialist, and Capitalist-Statist countries political liberty appears to have virtually no relationship with social development. An increase in political liberty without an increase in economic liberty is even associated with lower levels of social development. On the other hand, in the Mixed-Capitalist and the Capitalist nations there is a significant relationship between political liberty and social development. Perhaps Smith, Mises, and Friedman are correct. Where economic liberty exists, political liberty matters. Where economic liberty does not exist, political liberty does not matter. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1988

Date: 1988
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DOI: 10.1007/BF00183328

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