Vollmer, SebastianZiegler, Maria2012-03-192012-03-192009-01-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/4015Institutions are a major field of interest in the study of development processes. The authors contribute to this discussion concentrating our research on political institutions and their effect on the non-income dimensions of human development. First, they elaborate a theoretical argument why and under what conditions democracies compared to autocratic political systems might perform better with regards to the provision of public goods. Due to higher redistributive concerns matched to the needs of the population democracies should show a higher level of human development. In the following they analyze whether our theoretical expectations are supported by empirical facts. The authors perform a static panel analysis over the period of 1970 to 2003. The model confirms that living in a democratic system positively affects human development measured by life expectancy and literacy rates even controlling for GDP. By analyzing interaction effects they find that the performance of democracy is rather independent of the circumstances. However, democracy leads to more redistribution in favor of health provision in more unequal societies.CC BY 3.0 IGOADVERSE EFFECTSAMOUNT OF MONEYAVERAGE INCOMEBULLETINCANDIDATESCHECKSCITIZENSCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECONSTITUENTCONTRIBUTIONCULTURAL CHANGEDEMOCRACIESDEMOCRACYDEMOCRATIC CONTROLDEMOCRATIC REGIMESDEMOCRATIC SYSTEMSDEPENDENT VARIABLEDESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPING COUNTRYDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT OUTCOMESDIRECT DEMOCRACYDISADVANTAGED GROUPSDISTRIBUTION OF INCOMEDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTHDISTRIBUTIVE POLITICSEARNINGSECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC POLICYECONOMIC REVIEWELECTIONSELECTORATEEMPIRICAL ANALYSISEMPIRICAL EVIDENCEEMPIRICAL FINDINGSEMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONSEMPIRICAL RESEARCHEQUAL SOCIETIESEQUALIZING IMPACTEXPLANATORY VARIABLEEXPLANATORY VARIABLESFINANCIAL SUPPORTFREE EXPRESSIONFREE SPEECHGLOBAL POLICYGLOBALIZATIONGOVERNANCE INDICATORSGOVERNANCE ISSUESHEALTH SECTORHEALTHY LIFEHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN WELFAREILLITERACYILLITERACY RATEIMPERFECT INFORMATIONINCOMEINCOME COMPONENTSINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCOME DISTRIBUTIONSINCOME GROUPSINCOME INEQUALITYINDIVIDUAL NEEDSINTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTLABOUR MARKETLAWSLEVEL OF DEVELOPMENTLEVEL OF EDUCATIONLIFE EXPECTANCIESLIFE EXPECTANCYLITERACY RATESLIVING STANDARDLOW INCOMELOW-INCOMEMACROECONOMICSMARKET FAILURESMEAN INCOMEMEDIAN INCOMEMEDIAN VOTERMEDIAN VOTER HYPOTHESISMODERNIZATIONNATURAL RESOURCESNEGATIVE COEFFICIENTNEGATIVE EFFECTNEGATIVE IMPACTNEGATIVE SIGNNOURISHMENTOUTPUTOUTPUTSPOLICY ANALYSISPOLICY FORMULATIONPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL ARENAPOLITICAL DEMOCRACYPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL INSTITUTIONSPOLITICAL OPPOSITIONPOLITICAL POWERPOLITICAL RIGHTSPOLITICAL SCIENCEPOLITICAL STABILITYPOLITICAL SYSTEMPOLITICAL SYSTEMSPOOR GROWTHPOOR PEOPLEPOOR POLICIESPOSITIVE EFFECTPOSITIVE IMPACTPOSITIVE RELATIONSHIPPRO POORPROBABILITYPRODUCTIVITYPROGRESSPROPERTY RIGHTSPUBLIC DEBATEPUBLIC DEMANDPUBLIC ECONOMICSPUBLIC EXPENDITUREPUBLIC EXPENDITURESPUBLIC FINANCEPUBLIC GOODSPUBLIC POLICIESPUBLIC PROVISIONPUBLIC SECTORPUBLIC SERVICEPUBLIC SERVICESPUBLIC SPENDINGQUALITY OF LIFEREDISTRIBUTIVE EFFECTSREDISTRIBUTIVE POLICIESREDUCING POVERTYREGIONAL DUMMIESREPRESENTATIVESRESEARCH EFFORTSRESPECTRULE OF LAWSAVINGSSAVINGS RATESERVICE PROVISIONSIGNIFICANT IMPACTSOCIAL CAPITALSOCIAL SERVICESSOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTTAXTAX RATEVALUABLEVOTING PUBLICWARWARSWORTHWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-4818