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Is Democracy Good for the Poor?
Author(s) -
Ross Michael
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
american journal of political science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.347
H-Index - 170
eISSN - 1540-5907
pISSN - 0092-5853
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2006.00220.x
Subject(s) - democracy , welfare , inference , child health , political science , infant mortality , child mortality , development economics , demographic economics , political economy , economics , economic growth , medicine , politics , law , pediatrics , developing country , philosophy , epistemology
Many scholars claim that democracy improves the welfare of the poor. This article uses data on infant and child mortality to challenge this claim. Cross‐national studies tend to exclude from their samples nondemocratic states that have performed well; this leads to the mistaken inference that nondemocracies have worse records than democracies. Once these and other flaws are corrected, democracy has little or no effect on infant and child mortality rates. Democracies spend more money on education and health than nondemocracies, but these benefits seem to accrue to middle‐ and upper‐income groups.