Economic freedom and democracy

Post–cold War Tests

Bibliographic Data

ID6258880
AuthorsRoss E Burkhart (0000-0002-1333-868X, Boise State University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume37
Issue2
Pages237-253
Publication date2000-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Political Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0304-4130 • E-ISSN: 1475-6765
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1475-6765.00511
OpenAlexW2010240571
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited43

Current theorizing about the connection between cross–national economic development, capitalist economic structure, and democracy has reached critical mass. Current empirical modeling of the effect of economic structure on democracy, however, has slowed down; the most recent study uses data from 1965. Freedom House has developed for 82 countries rankings on ‘economic freedom’ in 1995, a measure of capitalism based on the freedom to: own property, earn a living, operate a business, invest earnings, trade internationally, and participate in a market economy. This manuscript presents a political economy model of democracy, including the Freedom House measure as a control variable for capitalism, and comes to some conclusions on the relationship between economic development, economic structure, and democracy. The main finding is that unbridled capitalism is unnecessary for a democratic polity. The optimal democratic state has a balance between capitalism and governmental concern for social welfare, even during the post–Cold War period

Capitalism · Democracy · Economic democracy · Economic freedom · Economic system · Economics · Index of Economic Freedom · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Polity · Corruption and Economic Development · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance