Demokratia ja taloudellinen kehitysaste

Authors

• Tatu Vanhanen

Abstract

The basic idea of this paper is that the factor which is assumed to be causally related to the degree of power distribution at the national level is not the level of economic development as such, but the degree to which economic and other power resources are distributed among competing social groups. The study covers 119 contemporary states in the period 1850—1975, but this analysis concentrates on the period 1970—75. Three political variables are used to measure the degree of power distribution. Four social variables are used to measure the level of socioeconomic development and the distribution of economic and intellectual power resources. One further variable (»Family farms») is assumed to measure the distribution of power resources more directly. Correlation and regression analyses are used to test three hypotheses. — The results of empirical investigation support the proposition that the level of economic development correlates positively with the degree of power distribution only to the extent that it reflects the distribution of power resources.