The World Bank estimates that from 1990 to 2017, the number of people in the world living below the poverty line of $2 a day fell by 37%. Education, health and living standards improved. At the same time, democracy developed in many countries. What researchers wanted to find out was whether there was a link and, if so, what it looked like.
“The answer is that it depends,” says Björn Halleröd, who conducted the study together with Hans Ekbrand.
The researchers compared three different types of regimes in 51 countries – the majority in Africa – that the World Bank defines as “low-income” countries, “lower middle income” and in one case, “upper middle income”. The regimes where defined as ‘left’ if the state actively was intervening in a country’s economy to increase social equality, ‘right’ if emphasises was on personal freedom and non-interference in the economy, while ‘centre’ fell somewhere in between. Other parameters included the degree of democracy and the degree of corruption.
“In countries with a long history of left-wing governments, there is a clear correlation between a high degree of democracy on the one hand and low poverty levels and better living conditions for children on the other,” says Björn Halleröd.
The study also found that in countries where left-wing governments had only been in power for a short time, or not at all, there was little or no correlation between democracy and living standards. Autocratic left-wing governments were found to be worst for the poor.
“In other words, leftist policies need to be paired with democracy to benefit the poor,” says Björn Halleröd.
Contrary to a pre-study assumption, the researchers found no correlation between widespread corruption and high levels of poverty, except in the area of education: corruption reduces children’s chances of attending school. Democracy, on the other hand, counteracts the negative effects of corruption on children’s schooling.
“Children are more likely to go to school in a corrupt democracy than in a corrupt autocracy,” says Mr Ekbrand.
