Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T10:58:05.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Do Democracies Select More Educated Leaders?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2011

TIMOTHY BESLEY*
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
MARTA REYNAL-QUEROL*
Affiliation:
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
*
Timothy Besley is Kuwait Professor of Economics and Political Science, London School of Economics and Political Science; also Program Member, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom (t.besley@lse.ac.uk).
Marta Reynal-Querol is ICREA Research Professor of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; also, Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and Research Affiliate CESifo; C/ Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, Barcelona 08005, Spain (marta.reynal@upf.edu).

Abstract

This paper uses a unique data set on over 1,400 world leaders between 1848 and 2004 to investigate differences in educational qualifications between leaders who are selected in democracies and autocracies. After including country and year fixed effects, we find that democracies are around 20% more likely to select highly educated leaders. This finding is robust to a wide range of specifications, choices of subsamples, controls, and ways of measuring education and democracy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, Daron, and Robinson, James. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Aghion, Philippe, Alesina, Alberto, and Trebbi, Francesco. 2008. “Democracy, Technology, and Growth.” In Institutions and Economic Performance, ed. Helpman, Elhanan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 511–43.Google Scholar
Barro, Robert. 1996. “Democracy and Economic Growth.” Journal of Growth 1 (1): 127.Google Scholar
Barro, Robert, and Lee, Jong-Wha. 2001. “International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications.” Oxford Economic Papers 53 (3): 541–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennedsen, Morton, Perez-Gonzales, Francisco, and Wolfenzon, Daniel. 2007. “Do CEOs Matter?” Working Paper No. 13-2007. Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bertrand, M., and Schoar, A.. 2003. “Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 118 (4): 11691208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy. 2005. “Political Selection.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19 (3): 4360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy, and Coate, Stephen. 1997. “An Economic Model of Representative Democracy.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112 (1): 85114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, Timothy, Montalvo, Jose, and Reynal-Querol, Marta. N.d. “Do Educated Leaders Matter for Growth?” Economic Journal. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles, and, Sebastián Rosato. 2001. “A Complete Data Set of Political Regimes, 1800–1999.” Unpublished data set.Google Scholar
Card, David. 1997. “The Causal Effect of Education on Earnings.” In Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 3, eds. Orley Ashenfelter and David Card. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier, 1801–63.Google Scholar
Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, and Duflo, Esther. 2004. “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment In India.” Econometrica 72 (5): 1409–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dee, Thomas S. 2004. “Are There Civic Returns to Education?” Journal of Public Economics 88 (9–10): 16971720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraz, Claudio, and Finan, Frederico. 2009. “Motivating Politicians: The Impacts of Monetary Incentives on Quality and Performance.” NBER. Working Paper 14906.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galasso, Vincenzo, and Nannicini, Tommaso. 2011. “Competing on Good Politicians.” American Political Science Review 105 (1): 7999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaeser, Edward L., Ponzetto, Giacomo A. M., and Shleifer, Andrei. 2007. “Why Does Democracy Need Education?” Journal of Economic Growth 12 (1): 7799.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleditsch, Kristian S., and Ward, Michael D.. 1999. “Interstate System Membership: A Revised List of the Independent States since 1816.” International Interactions 25: 393413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goemans, H. E., Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede, and Chiozza, Giacomo. 2006. “Archigos: A Database of Leaders 1875–2004.” http://www.rochester.edu/college/faculty/hgoemans/data.htm (accessed June 24, 2011).Google Scholar
Goemans, H. E., Gleditsch, Kristian, and Chiozza, Giacomo. 2009. “Introducing Archigos: A Data Set of Political Leaders.” Journal of Peace Research, 46 (2): 269–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, W. Bruce, Magee, Robert P., Nagarajan, Nandu, and Newman, Harry A.. 1985. “An Analysis of the Stock Price Reaction to Sudden Executive Deaths: Implications for the Managerial Labor Market.” Journal of Accounting and Economics 7 (1–3): 151–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Benjamin F., and Olken, Benjamin A.. 2005. “Do Leaders Matter? National Leadership and Growth Since World War II.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 120 (3): 835–64.Google Scholar
Lentz, Harris M. 1994. Heads of States and Governments: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Over 2,300 Leaders, 1945 through 1992. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.Google Scholar
Lentz, Harris M. 1999. Encyclopedia of Heads of States and Governments: 1900 through 1945. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. “Some Social Requisites for Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy.” American Political Science Review 53: 69105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, Arnold M. 2002. King of the Mountain: The Nature of Political Leadership. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Maddison, Angus. 2003. The World Economy: Historical Statistics. Paris: OECD.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, Monty G., and Jaggers, Keith. 2005. “POLITY IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800–2004.” http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/polity4.htm (accessed June 24, 2011).Google Scholar
Milligan, Kevin, Moretti, Enrico, and Oreopoulos, Philip. 2004. “Does Education Improve Citizenship? Evidence from the United States and the United Kingdom.” Journal of Public Economics 88 (9–10): 1667–95.Google Scholar
Morrisson, Christian, and Murtin, Fabrice. 2010. “The Kuznets Curve of Education: A Global Perspective on Education Inequalities 1870–2010.” CM-FM. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Osborne, Martin J., and Slivinski, Al. 1996. “A Model of Political Competition with Citizen Candidates.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111 (1): 6596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papaioannou, Elias, and Siourounis, Gregorios. 2008 “Democratization and Growth.” Economic Journal 118 (10): 1520–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pande, Rohini. 2003. “Minority Representation and Policy Choices: The Significance of Legislator Identity.” American Economic Review 93 (4): 1132–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido. 2008. “Political Regimes and Economic Growth.” In Institutions and Economic Performance, Elhanan Helpman (ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 544–86.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido. 2009. “Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Economic and Political Change.” American Economic Journal Macroeconomics 1: 88126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Alvarez, Michael E., Cheibub, Jose Antonio, and Limongi, Fernando. 2000. Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, and Limongi, Fernando. 1993. “Political Regimes and Economic Growth.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 7 (3): 5169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spilimbergo, Antonio. 2009. “Democracy and Foreign Education.” American Economic Review 99 (1): 528–43.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.