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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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    3. Łukasz Goczek & Ewa Witkowska & Bartosz Witkowski, 2021. "How Does Education Quality Affect Economic Growth?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, June.
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    8. Donal Ajoumessi Houmpe & Ngouhouo Ibrahim, 2020. "The effect of African leaders' foreign education/training on the completion of primary education in their countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 3241-3255.
    9. Alessandro Belmonte, 2021. "Sophisticated electoral accountability," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 233-260, June.
    10. Piergiuseppe Fortunato & Ugo Panizza, 2015. "Democracy, education and the quality of government," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 333-363, December.
    11. M. Rodwan Abouharb & David Cingranelli & Mikhail Filippov, 2019. "Too Many Cooks: Multiple International Principals Can Spoil the Quality of Governance," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-22, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Alfano, Maria Rosaria & Baraldi, Anna Laura & Papagni, Erasmo, 2020. "Do Voters Choose Better Politicians than Political Parties? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Italy," FACTS: Firms And Cities Towards Sustainability 308020, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) > FACTS: Firms And Cities Towards Sustainability.
    14. Muhammad Ayyoub & Julia Wörz, 2021. "Inflation‐growth nexus in developing economies: New empirical evidence from a disaggregated approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 241-257, January.
    15. Kotschy, Rainer & Sunde, Uwe, 2017. "Democracy, inequality, and institutional quality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 209-228.
    16. Krieger, Tommy, 2019. "Democracy and institutional quality: Theory and Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203507, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Piergiuseppe Fortunato & Marco Pecoraro, 2020. "Yes, The Medium Matters: How Facebook and Twitter boost Populism in Europe," IRENE Working Papers 20-01, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    18. Mitu Gulati & Ugo Panizza, 2018. "Maduro Bonds," IHEID Working Papers 12-2018, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    19. Williams, Kevin, 2017. "Do remittances improve political institutions? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 65-75.
    20. Piergiuseppe Fortunato, 2015. "Democratic Government and Development: A Survey," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(2), pages 153-177, September.
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    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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