Democracy: The Only Get-Rich-Quick Scheme That Actually Works
Democracy comes from the Greek words "demos" meaning people and "kratos" meaning power. Or as some historians say, "demo" meaning demonstration and "cracy" meaning crazy. Both seem accurate based on election coverage.
Here's the math, which requires third-grade arithmetic:
When a country switches from non-democracy to democracy, GDP per capita goes up about 20% over 30 years. I checked. It's like compound interest, except instead of money making money, voting rights make money.
If you ever doubt the power of democracy, just remember that your vote can make all the difference. That's what they tell you, anyway.
The number of democracies increased 30% over the past 50 years. World GDP went up 6% just from that. Not bad for letting people vote.
The Suspicious Timing
For thousands of years, everyone was poor. Then democracy happened. Then everyone got rich.
Coincidence? The data suggests probably not. Though it could also be a coincidence. I'm not a statistician, I'm just reading what the statisticians say.
The global wealth explosion started right after the American Revolution. The line on that chart goes from "basically flat for all of human history" to "suddenly vertical" right when democracy shows up. It's like humanity was stuck in first gear for millennia, then someone invented voting and we hit the accelerator.
Before democracy, economic growth was so slow you'd think the economy was being run by a committee. Which it basically was, except the committee was just one king and he inherited the job from his dad.
More Democracy = More Money
Countries with higher Democracy Index scores are wealthier. Below is a scatter plot proving that democracy and GDP track together like they're handcuffed.
The correlation is so strong you'd think someone faked the data. They didn't. I checked the methodology section. It's legitimate, which is disappointing because it would have made for a better story.
Sometimes I wonder if democracy is just good for the economy, or if the economy is just good for democracy. Then I remember I'm not qualified to answer that question, so I just look at the numbers instead.
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