The Impact of Democracy or Repressiveness on the Quality of Life, Income Distribution and Economic Growth Rates

Abstract

This paper is a comprehensive attempt to evaluate the effects of a democracy-repressiveness scale on the quality of life, income inequality and economic growth rates. Data analyses refer to the 1980s and as wide a sample as is feasible. Because of problems of data quality and data availability, this constraint affects the inequality analyses much more severely than other analyses. In general, there are no significant effects of democracy or repressiveness on either the quality of life, or income inequality, or economic growth rates. Theoretical arguments for positive or negative relationships are rejected because they tend to rely on tacit (or hidden) as well as implausible assumptions.