Economic Freedom, Democracy, and the Quality of Life

Many empirical studies indicate that economic freedom in society is positively correlated with prosperity and growth, while democracy exhibits mixed correlations. However, these studies do not control for the possible interaction of these two types of freedoms or their respective influences on socia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld development Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 52 - 66
Main Author Stroup, Michael D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2007
Elsevier
Pergamon Press Inc
SeriesWorld Development
Subjects
Democracy
Economic conditions
economic freedom
Education
Freedom
Freedoms
Health
Institutions
Quality of life
Social welfare
Studies
Welfare
institutions
economic freedom
social welfare
democracy
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Summary:Many empirical studies indicate that economic freedom in society is positively correlated with prosperity and growth, while democracy exhibits mixed correlations. However, these studies do not control for the possible interaction of these two types of freedoms or their respective influences on social welfare. This empirical analysis examines the interaction of economic freedom and democracy on measures of health, education, and disease prevention in society. The results imply that greater economic freedom consistently enhances these welfare measures, even among more democratic countries. Democracy has a smaller positive influence that disappears for many welfare measures in countries with more economic freedoms.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2006.09.003