IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v52y2013icp34-54.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female Empowerment as a Core Driver of Democratic Development: A Dynamic Panel Model from 1980 to 2005

Author

Listed:
  • Wyndow, Paula
  • Li, Jianghong
  • Mattes, Eugen

Abstract

We investigated the causal effects of female empowerment (female educational attainment, female labor force participation, and total fertility rates) on democratic development for 97 countries from 1980 to 2005. Using Polity IV as an indicator of levels of democracy, our results show that female empowerment was strongly associated with democratic development over this period. The effect of female education increased with lags of 5 and 10years, suggesting that democracy is more likely to occur in nations with a history of educating girls and a longer experience of the social and economic conditions that have occurred because of this investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Wyndow, Paula & Li, Jianghong & Mattes, Eugen, 2013. "Female Empowerment as a Core Driver of Democratic Development: A Dynamic Panel Model from 1980 to 2005," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 34-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:52:y:2013:i:c:p:34-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.06.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X13001502
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.06.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Ross, 2006. "Is Democracy Good for the Poor?," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 860-874, October.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy & Robert Tamura, 1994. "Human Capital, Fertility, and Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 323-350, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Edward Glaeser & Giacomo Ponzetto & Andrei Shleifer, 2007. "Why does democracy need education?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 77-99, June.
    4. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    5. Solava Ibrahim & Sabina Alkire, 2007. "Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 379-403.
    6. Bloom, David E & Williamson, Jeffrey G, 1998. "Demographic Transitions and Economic Miracles in Emerging Asia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 12(3), pages 419-455, September.
    7. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2008. "Income and Democracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 808-842, June.
    8. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2009. "Democratic Capital: The Nexus of Political and Economic Change," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 88-126, July.
    9. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson & Pierre Yared, 2005. "From Education to Democracy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 44-49, May.
    10. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 2004. "Returns to investment in education: a further update," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 111-134.
    11. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1993. "International comparisons of educational attainment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 363-394, December.
    12. Psacharopoulos, George & Tzannatos, Zafiris, 1989. "Female Labor Force Participation: An International Perspective," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 4(2), pages 187-201, July.
    13. Cleland, John G. & van Ginneken, Jerome K., 1988. "Maternal education and child survival in developing countries: The search for pathways of influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 1357-1368, January.
    14. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    15. Morrison, Andrew & Raju, Dhushyanth & Sinha, Nistha, 2007. "Gender equality, poverty and economic growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4349, The World Bank.
    16. Bobba, Matteo & Coviello, Decio, 2007. "Weak instruments and weak identification, in estimating the effects of education, on democracy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 96(3), pages 301-306, September.
    17. Galor, Oded & Weil, David N, 1996. "The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 374-387, June.
    18. Vasilis Sarafidis & Donald Robertson, 2009. "On the impact of error cross-sectional dependence in short dynamic panel estimation," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 12(1), pages 62-81, March.
    19. Carol Scotese Lehr, 2009. "Evidence on the Demographic Transition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(4), pages 871-887, November.
    20. David Bloom & David Canning & Günther Fink & Jocelyn Finlay, 2009. "Fertility, female labor force participation, and the demographic dividend," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 79-101, June.
    21. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    22. Ross, Michael L., 2008. "Oil, Islam, and Women," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 102(1), pages 107-123, February.
    23. Woodberry, Robert D., 2012. "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(2), pages 244-274, May.
    24. Jowett, Matthew, 2000. "Safe motherhood interventions in low-income countries: an economic justification and evidence of cost effectiveness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 201-228, October.
    25. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    26. Basu, Alaka Malwade, 2002. "Why does Education Lead to Lower Fertility? A Critical Review of Some of the Possibilities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 1779-1790, October.
    27. Wolfgang Lutz & Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Mohammad Jalal Abbasi‐Shavazi, 2010. "Demography, Education, and Democracy: Global Trends and the Case of Iran," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(2), pages 253-281, June.
    28. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Determinants of Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 158-183, December.
    29. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    30. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315.
    31. Morrisson, Christian & Jutting, Johannes P., 2005. "Women's discrimination in developing countries: A new data set for better policies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1065-1081, July.
    32. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521793797.
    33. David E. Bloom & David Canning, 2003. "Contraception and the Celtic Tiger," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 34(3), pages 229-247.
    34. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    35. Li, Jianghong, 2004. "Gender inequality, family planning, and maternal and child care in a rural Chinese county," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 695-708, August.
    36. Przeworski,Adam & Alvarez,Michael E. & Cheibub,Jose Antonio & Limongi,Fernando, 2000. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521790321.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. P. K. Mishra & S. K. Mishra & M. K. Sarangi, 2020. "Do Women’s Advancement and Gender Parity Promote Economic Growth? Evidence from 30 Asian Countries," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(1), pages 5-26, April.
    2. Ibrahim A. Adekunle & Toluwani G. Kalejaiye & Ayomide, O. Ogunade & Sina J. Ogede & Caleb O. Soyemi, 2020. "Engendering Macroeconomic Policy for Gender Equality in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 20/095, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    3. Houda Haffoudhi & Rihab Bellakhal, 2020. "Threshold Effect of Globalization on Democracy: the Role of Demography," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1690-1707, December.
    4. Mougnol A Ekoula, Hervé William & Kamguia, Brice & Ndoya, Hermann, 2023. "Do women hold the key to financial sector development in Africa?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 233-248.
    5. Sajad Rahimian, 2021. "The Determinants of Democracy Revisited: An Instrumental Variable Bayesian Model Averaging Approach," Papers 2103.04255, arXiv.org.
    6. Périlleux, Anaïs & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Women Leaders and Social Performance: Evidence from Financial Cooperatives in Senegal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 437-452.
    7. Nouha Bougharriou & Walid Benayed & Foued Badr Gabsi, 2019. "Education and democracy in the Arab world," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 139-155, May.
    8. Sosson Tadadjeu & Alim Belek & Henri Njangang & Marie-Laure Belomo & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Does women's political empowerment promote public health expenditure in Africa?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1959-1969.
    9. Ritchie, Holly A., 2016. "Unwrapping Institutional Change in Fragile Settings: Women Entrepreneurs Driving Institutional Pathways in Afghanistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 39-53.
    10. Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2023. "Does women’s political empowerment matter for income inequality?," Working Papers 2023-10, FEDEA.
    11. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    12. Ibrahim A. Adekunle & Toluwani G. Kalejaiye & Ayomide, O. Ogunade & Sina J. Ogede & Caleb O. Soyemi, 2020. "Engendering Macroeconomic Policy for Gender Equality in sub-Saharan Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/095, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    13. Ibrahim A. Adekunle & Toluwani G. Kalejaiye & Ayomide, O. Ogunade & Sina J. Ogede & Caleb O. Soyemi, 2020. "Engendering Macroeconomic Policy for Gender Equality in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/095, African Governance and Development Institute..
    14. Ibrahim A. Adekunle & Toluwani G. Kalejaiye & Ayomide O. Ogunade & Sina J. Ogede & Caleb O. Soyemi, 2020. "Engendering Macroeconomic Policy for Gender Equality in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 20/009, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    15. Trommlerová, Sofia Karina & Klasen, Stephan & Leßmann, Ortrud, 2015. "Determinants of Empowerment in a Capability-Based Poverty Approach: Evidence from The Gambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 1-15.
    16. Elisabete Nogueira & Sofia Gomes & João M. Lopes, 2022. "The Key to Sustainable Economic Development: A Triple Bottom Line Approach," Resources, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    17. Joshi, Devin K. & Hughes, Barry B. & Sisk, Timothy D., 2015. "Improving Governance for the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals: Scenario Forecasting the Next 50years," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 286-302.
    18. Dirk Clercq & Steven A. Brieger & Christian Welzel, 2021. "Leveraging the macro-level environment to balance work and life: an analysis of female entrepreneurs’ job satisfaction," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1361-1384, April.
    19. Feng-Shang Wu & Hong-Ji Huang, 2024. "Why Do Some Countries Innovate Better than Others? A New Perspective of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Regimes and National Absorptive Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, March.
    20. Sundström, Aksel & Paxton, Pamela & Wang, Yi-Ting & Lindberg, Staffan I., 2017. "Women’s Political Empowerment: A New Global Index, 1900–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 321-335.
    21. Sojin Yu & Feinian Chen & Sonalde Desai, 2023. "Aligning household decision-making with work and education: A comparative analysis of women’s empowerment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(19), pages 513-548.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen L. Parente & Luis Felipe Sáenz & Anna Seim, 2022. "Income, education and democracy," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 193-233, June.
    2. Campante, Filipe R. & Chor, Davin, 2014. "“The people want the fall of the regime”: Schooling, political protest, and the economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 495-517.
    3. Fabrice Murtin & Romain Wacziarg, 2014. "The democratic transition," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 141-181, June.
    4. Castelló-Climent, Amparo, 2008. "On the distribution of education and democracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 179-190, October.
    5. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2022. "Is schooling the same as learning? – The impact of the learning-adjusted years of schooling on growth in a dynamic panel data framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Crespo Cuaresma, Jesus & Oberdabernig, Doris Anita, 2014. "Education and the Transition to Sustained Democracy," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 170, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    7. Che, Yi & Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Peng, 2013. "The impact of income on democracy revisited," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 159-169.
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5m0od0o9jn9pqbdmos7fpt28hg is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Shafiq, M. Najeeb, 2010. "Do education and income affect support for democracy in Muslim countries? Evidence from the Pew Global Attitudes Project," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 461-469, June.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5m0od0o9jn9pqbdmos7fpt28hg is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Hugo J. Faria & Hugo M. Montesinos-Yufa & Daniel R. Morales, 2014. "Should the Modernization Hypothesis Survive Acemoglu, Johnson, Robinson, and Yared? Some More Evidence," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 11(1), pages 17-36, January.
    12. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    13. Dahlum, Sirianne & Knutsen, Carl Henrik, 2017. "Do Democracies Provide Better Education? Revisiting the Democracy–Human Capital Link," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 186-199.
    14. Nedra Baklouti & Younes Boujelbene, 2018. "The Nexus Between Democracy and Economic Growth: Evidence from Dynamic Simultaneous-Equations Models," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(3), pages 980-998, September.
    15. Daniel Treisman, 2011. "Income, Democracy, and the Cunning of Reason," NBER Working Papers 17132, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Markus Brückner & Antonio Ciccone & Andrea Tesei, 2012. "Oil Price Shocks, Income, and Democracy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(2), pages 389-399, May.
    17. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and social factors driving the third wave of democratization," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 365-387, September.
    18. Jooste, Charl & Liu, Guangling (Dave) & Naraidoo, Ruthira, 2013. "Analysing the effects of fiscal policy shocks in the South African economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 215-224.
    19. Alberto Batinti & Joan Costa‐Font & Timothy J. Hatton, 2022. "Voting Up? The Effects of Democracy and Franchise Extension on Human Stature," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 161-190, January.
    20. Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2009. "Democracy, collective action and intra-elite conflict," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1078-1089, October.
    21. Piergiuseppe Fortunato & Ugo Panizza, 2015. "Democracy, education and the quality of government," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 333-363, December.
    22. Elias Papaioannou & Gregorios Siourounis, 2008. "Democratisation and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(532), pages 1520-1551, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:52:y:2013:i:c:p:34-54. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.