@article{0023641ed7164be29f6bc3525f647864,
title = "Awakening leviathan: The effect of democracy on state capacity",
abstract = "Recent debates over the relative importance of democracy and state capacity for human development have led to the prevailing view that a strong state must be built before the introduction of democracy. Our research challenges this “sequencing approach” in international development. Using a global panel of countries over 50 years, we document that democracy has a substantial, positive causal effect on state capacity with identification strategies that adjust for pre-treatment dynamics. The state-enhancing effect of democracy is robust to alternative measures of key variables, a large set of time-varying confounders and an instrumental variable design that leverages variation in regional democratic diffusions. Subsequent analysis suggests contestation, rather than participation, as a potential causal mechanism. Our findings contribute to the burgeoning literature on sources of state capacity in the developing world and yield practical implications for democracy assistance.",
keywords = "Causal inference, Democracy, Democratic diffusion, Development, Panel data, State capacity",
author = "Wang, {Erik H.} and Yiqing Xu",
note = "Funding Information: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors are deeply grateful to Jonathan Hanson and Rachel Sigman for sharing with us their data. We also thank Faisal Ahmed, Meir Alkon, Carles Boix, Shuo Chen, Orlandrew Danzell, Christian Fong, Jason Q. Guo, Nan Li, Hanzhang Liu, Michael Miller, Stephen Monroe, Grigore Pop-eleches, Maryna Povitkina, Xander Slaski, Diana Stanescu, Shiping Tang, Daniel Treisman, Rory Truex, Leonard Wantchekon, Jon Whooley, Matthew Wilson, Juana Xu, Changdong Zhang, Brigitte Zimmerman, and Xufeng Zhu for comments and feedback. The paper was previously presented at the Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Princeton Pizza and Politics Seminar, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Research Seminar at Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management, and Fudan University Political Science and Economics Joint Workshop. Funding Information: This publication was made possible (in part) by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2018.",
year = "2018",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1177/2053168018772398",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "5",
journal = "Research and Politics",
issn = "2053-1680",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",
number = "2",
}