Work

Do Democracies Select More Educated Leaders?

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: This paper uses a unique data set on over 1,400 world leaders between 1848 and 2004 to investigate differences in educational qualifications between leaders who are selected in democracies and autocracies. After including country and year fixed effects, we find that democracies are around 20% more likely to select highly educated leaders. This finding is robust to a wide range of specifications, choices of subsamples, controls, and ways of measuring education and democracy.

Source: American Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1017/s0003055411000281

Authors: TIMOTHY BESLEY, MARTA REYNAL-QUEROL

Institutions: London School of Economics and Political Science, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Language: English

Topic: Political Conflict and Governance

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: bronze

OpenAlex ID: W2005291600