The Democratic Transition

Fabrice Murtin and Romain Wacziarg

No 17432, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Over the last two centuries, many countries experienced regime transitions toward democracy. We document this democratic transition over a long time horizon. We use historical time series of income, education and democracy levels from 1870 to 2000 to explore the economic factors associated with rising levels of democracy. We find that primary schooling, and to a weaker extent per capita income levels, are strong determinants of the quality of political institutions. We find little evidence of causality running the other way, from democracy to income or education.

JEL-codes: N10 O43 O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-his, nep-lab and nep-pol
Note: POL
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (52)

Published as The Democratic Transition (with Fabrice Murtin), Journal of Economic Growth, 19(2), June 2014, pp. 141-181. Lead article.

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Journal Article: The democratic transition (2014)
Working Paper: The democratic transition (2014)
Working Paper: The Democratic Transition (2011)
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