%0 Report
        %A Gersbach, Hans
%A Siemers, Lars
        %T Can Democracy Educate a Society?
        %D 2005
        %8 2005 Jul
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 1693
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp1693
        %X We examine the constitutional design required for democratic societies to overcome poverty traps. Restricting agenda-setting only by ensuring subsistence levels of consumption and applying simple majority voting as decision rule fails to enable a society to overcome poverty because it does not induce capital-enhancing redistribution. We show that a combination of suitable constitutional rules can, however, overcome poverty and induce economic well-being. Besides majority voting, these rules include rotating agenda-setting, agenda repetition and tax protection rules. We highlight the crucial role of democratic institutions for economic development and discuss why the evidence for democracy fostering growth is mixed.
        %K constitutional design
%K institutions
%K redistribution
%K poverty traps
%K tax allowances
%K voting rules