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Democracy, education and the quality of government

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  • Fortunato, Piergiuseppe
  • Panizza, Ugo

Abstract

This paper looks at how the interaction between democracy and education affects the quality of government. It models an economy in which politicians of heterogeneous quality can run for office and shows that education has a positive effect on the quality of selected officials only if democratic institutions are in place. The model also fi…nds that democracy has positive effect on the quality of government in countries with high levels of education but that political institutions are not correlated with the quality of government in countries with low levels of education. Cross-country and panel data regressions confirm that the interaction between democracy and education is positively associated with the quality of government.

Suggested Citation

  • Fortunato, Piergiuseppe & Panizza, Ugo, 2011. "Democracy, education and the quality of government," POLIS Working Papers 155, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    • Handle: RePEc:uca:ucapdv:155
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Bello, Piera & Casarico, Alessandra & Profeta, Paola, 2014. "Gender quotas and the quality of politicians," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 62-74.
    2. Piergiuseppe Fortunato & Ugo Panizza, 2015. "Democracy, education and the quality of government," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 333-363, December.
    3. Pierre André & Paul Maarek, 2017. "Education, social capital and political participation Evidence from school construction in Malian villages," THEMA Working Papers 2017-18, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    4. Piergiuseppe Fortunato, 2015. "Democratic Government and Development: A Survey," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(2), pages 153-177, September.
    5. Williams, Kevin, 2017. "Do remittances improve political institutions? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 65-75.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism

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