TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Gersbach, Hans
AU  - Siemers, Lars
        TI  - Can Democracy Educate a Society?
        PY  - 2005/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 1693
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp1693
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - constitutional design
KW  - institutions
KW  - redistribution
KW  - poverty traps
KW  - tax allowances
KW  - voting rules
        ER  -