The Transmission of Democracy: From the Village to the Nation-State
American Economic Review · 2013 · Volume 103 · Issue 3
Abstract
We provide evidence that a tradition of village democracy is associated with the presence of national democracy today. We also show that a tradition of local democracy is associated with attitudes which are more supportive of democracy, with better quality institutions and with higher levels of economic development. Our findings indicate persistence in democratic institutions over time, and suggest the importance of traditional local institutions for well-functioning national-level institutions.
Keywords
Institutions: Design, Formation, and Operations, Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts, Formal and Informal Sectors, Shadow Economy, Institutional Arrangements, Institutions and Growth, Economic Sociology, Economic Anthropology, Social and Economic Stratification
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