Member-only story
Is Democracy Worth it?
In economical terms, it is- To a certain extent.
From a standpoint solely based on values, democracy is always worth it. Few successful arguments have been made against the principle of freedom and equality that have convinced the many to be ruled by the few.
By instead approaching the topic in economic terms, the question is trickier. Do democracies create growth? We value our freedoms highly, but the value of being a free citizen is small if one is poor.
An initial observation would say that most rich countries are democratic, and therefore democracy prompts growth. But now we are committing the fatal flaw of implying causation because of correlation.
Growth resides from within
Broadly put, there are two theories of how the economy of a given country growes. One is that growth is external (exogenous) and if it is so, then countries with less growth will quickly catch up to the rich countries.
This has not been the case.
The other theory is that growth is internal (endogenous), meaning that the content of the country matters. Here, a factor may be human capital, meaning the level of skill from the individual citizen. How well-educated are they, how healthy are they etc.
