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President Biden said one of the big reasons democracy succeeds is that it unlocks human potential.
According to economist Daron Acemoglu, democracies are spending more on education and health care. As the poorer segments of society gain access to health care and education, they are more likely to reach their potential and contribute to the local economy, he says.
According to Acemoglu, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-author of an analysis of 184 countries from 1960 to 2010, countries that have established democratic governments in the last 70 years have grown their economies. (PDF, 516KB). In countries such as Portugal and South Korea, within 20 years of democratization he increased gross domestic product per capita by 20%.
Analysis reveals that after transitioning to democracy, Portugal and South Korea have implemented several major reforms, including expanding healthcare and education (PDF, 404KB). Newly democratized South Korea has stopped suppressing trade unions. Biden said “democracy in action” is when workers can join unions. Advocating for higher wages, better benefits, or safe and healthy workplaces wins for all workers and improves living standards.
After the fall of communism, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltics launched a series of democratic reforms in the 1990s. and joined the European Union.
Noting that Poland’s GDP per capita in 2021 has more than tripled in real dollars from its 1990 value, Thompson notes that “the magnetism of these Western institutions … gives them incentives to organize their homes.” I gave you a
freedom to innovate
Darrell West, vice president of governance research at the Brookings Institution, says democratic societies protect the right of people to express their opinions, uphold the rule of law, enforce predictable rules of government, and strengthen competitiveness. He said he held an election and supported independent media.
Freedom of expression in democracies encourages creativity and innovation, West said, citing Silicon Valley as an example. “There is an environment [in the United States] It allows people to challenge authority, develop unconventional ideas, and basically experiment in ways that are often impossible in authoritarian societies,” he said.
Freedom of expression is the driving force behind America’s higher education system and resulting economic power, said West. Universities are usually one of the largest local employers, driving the local economy. In addition, many patents (especially computer chips) have come out of universities to drive business ideas.
democracy, historically
The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words meaning people (demo) and rules (Kratos). The first known democracy was in Athens, a form of government developed by the ancient Greeks around the 5th century BC.
Alexis de Tocqueville is a French political philosopher who wrote in the early 1800s. american democracy“He saw our vibrant civil society as the strength of the United States.” said West.
According to MIT’s Acemoglu, political freedom and economic success are cyclical. Together they create the vibrancy that Tocqueville saw nearly two centuries before him.
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