Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-w5vf4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-05T06:15:17.838Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparative Democracy: The Economic Development Thesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Ross E. Burkhart  and
Michael S. Lewis-Beck
Ross E. Burkhart
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
Michael S. Lewis-Beck
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In comparative politics, an established finding—that economic development fosters democratic performance—has recently come under challenge. We counter this challenge with a dynamic pooled time series analysis of a major, but neglected data set from 131 nations. The final generalized least squares-autoregressive moving averages estimates (N = 2,096) appear robust and indicate strong economic development effects, dependent in part on the nation's position in the world system. For the first time, rather hard evidence is offered on the causal relationship between economics and democracy. According to Granger tests, economic development “causes” democracy, but democracy does not “cause” economic development. Overall, the various tests would seem to advance sharply the modeling of democratic performance.

Information

Type
Research Notes
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 88 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 903 - 910
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arat, Zehra F. 1988. “Democracy and Economic Development: Modernization Theory Revisited.” Comparative Politics 21:21–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arrighi, Giovanni, and Drangel, Jessica. 1986. “The Stratification of the World-Economy: An Exploration of the Semiperipheral Zone.” Review 10:9–74.Google Scholar
Banks, Arthur. 1979. Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive. Binghamton: State University of New York.Google Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1979. “Political Democracy and the Timing of Development.” American Sociological Review 44:572–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1980. “Issues in the Comparative Measurement of Political Democracy.” American Sociological Review 45:370–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1983. “World System Position, Dependency, and Democracy: The Cross-National Evidence.” American Sociological Review 48:468–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1986. “Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950–1984.” Human Rights Quarterly 8:567–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1993. “Liberal Democracy: Validity and Source Biases in Cross-National Measures. American Journal of Political Science 37:1207–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A., and Jackman, Robert W.. 1985. “Political Democracy and the Size Distribution of Income.” American Sociological Review 48:468–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunk, Gregory G., Caldeira, Gregory A., and Lewis-Beck, Michael S.. 1987. “Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: An Empirical Inquiry.” European Journal of Political Research 15:459–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase-Dunn, Christopher. 1983. “Inequality, Structural Mobility, and Dependency Reversal in the Capitalist World Economy.” In North/South Relations: Studies of Dependency Reversal, ed. Doran, Charles, Modelski, George, and Clark, Cal. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Chirot, Daniel. 1977. Social Change in the Twentieth Century. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1989. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven: Yale.Google Scholar
Frank, André Gunder. 1969. Latin America: Underdevelopment or Revolution. New York: Monthly Review.Google Scholar
Freedom House. 1990. Freedom in the World: Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 1989–1990. New York: Freedom House.Google Scholar
Gastil, Raymond D. 1978. Freedom in the World: Political Rights and Civil Liberties 1978. New York: Freedom House.Google Scholar
Gastil, Raymond D. 1989. Freedom in the World: Political Rights and Civil Liberties, 1988–1989. New York: Freedom House.Google Scholar
Gonick, Lev S., and Rosh, Robert M.. 1988. The Structural Constraints of the World-Economy on National Political Development. Comparative Political Studies 21:171–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granger, C. W. J. 1969. “Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods.” Econometrica 37:424–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granger, C. W. J. 1988. “Some Recent Developments in a Concept of Causality.” Journal of Econometrics 39:7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, William H. 1990. Econometric Analysis. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hartman, John W., and Hsiao, Wey. 1988. “Inequality and Violence: Issues of Theory and Measurement in Muller.” American Sociological Review 53:794–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsiao, Cheng. 1986. Analysis of Panel Data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jaccard, James, Turrisi, Robert, Wan, Choi K.. 1990. Interaction Effects in Multiple Regression. University Paper series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, no. 72. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google ScholarPubMed
Jackman, Robert W. 1973. “On the Relationship of Economic Development to Political Performance.” American Journal of Political Science 17:611–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kmenta, Jan. 1986. Elements of Econometrics. 2d ed.New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lienesch, Michael. 1992. “Wo(e) Begone(e) Democracy.” American Journal of Political Science 36:1004–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy.” American Political Science Review 53:69–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahdavi, Saeid, and Sohrabian, Ahmad. 1991. “The Link between the Rate of Growth of Stock Prices and the Rate of Growth of GNP in the United States: A Granger Causality Test.” American Economist 35(2):41–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mueller, John. 1992. “Democracy and Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery: Elections, Equality, and the Minimal Human Being.” American Journal of Political Science 36:983–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nemeth, Roger J., and Smith, David A.. 1985. “International Trade and World-System Structure: A Multiple Network Analysis.” Review 8:517–60.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Charles W. Jr., 1990. Time Series Analysis: Regression Techniques. 2d ed. University Paper series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, no. 9. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pindyck, Robert S., and Rubinfeld, Daniel L.. 1991. Econometric Models and Economic Forecasts. 3d ed.New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Smith, David A., and White, Douglas R.. 1992. “Structure and Dynamics of the Global Economy: Network Analysis of International Trade, 1965–1980.” Social Forces 70:857–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Synder, David, and Kick, Edward L.. 1979. “Structural Position in the World System and Economic Growth, 1955–1970: A Multiple-Network analysis of Transnational Interactions.” American Journal of Sociology 84:1096–1126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stimson, James A. 1985. “Regression in Space and Time: A Statistical Essay.” American Journal of Political Science 29:914–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974. “The Rise and Future Demise of the World-Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 16:400–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.