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 …

This article updates our earlier finding that democracies outperformed dictatorships in 1950-
90 by achieving lower infant mortality rates at every level of development. Now we show that …

The effect of economic development in reducing hunger is widely known, but what is the
effect of a country's political regime on the basic welfare of its inhabitants? Does it matter …

Does democracy improve the quality of life for its citizens? Scholars have long assumed that
it does, but recent research has called this orthodoxy into question. This article reviews this …

When it comes to social welfare, we do not have clear understanding of whether it is more
important to have democracy or a capable state. Specifically, most studies do not consider …

Based on a new data set of democratizations occurring between 1960 and 2004, this paper
explores the reasons for reversals in young democracies. Adverse initial conditions …

In spite of the inexorable march of democracy around the globe, just how democratic
institutions affect human well-being is open to debate. The evidence that democracy …

Democracy is more than just another brake or booster for the economy. We argue that there
are significant indirect effects of democracy on growth through public health and education …

Existing studies establish a strong cross-country correlation between income and
democracy but do not control for factors that simultaneously affect both variables. We show …

The relationship between the level of economic development and the level of democracy
found in most quantitative cross-national research implies that the largest gains in …