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The Invisible Hand of Democracy

Political Control and the Provision of Public Services

University of California, San Diego

MATTHEW A. BAUM

University of California, Los Angeles

Despite considerable normative support, analysts have failed to identify any systematic effects of democracy on domestic policy outputs. Building on a theory of the state as a monopoly producer of public services and establishing a common foundation for studying variations in regimes and their policy consequences, the authors hypothesize that democratic states will earn fewer monopoly rents and produce a higher level of services than autocracies. They test this hypothesis both cross-sectionally and over time for a variety of public health and education indicators. The statistical results strongly support their hypotheses. The authors conclude that democracy has real, substantively important effects on the daily lives and well-being of individuals around the globe.

Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 34, No. 6, 587-621 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/0010414001034006001


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