The effect of education on democracy: Panel data analysis of high income countries

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of education on democracy. Regions having developed democracy are the centers of attraction that individuals prefer to live in. From this point of view, the whole society’s benefitting from individual freedom and equality, which are the basic building blocks of democracy, are closely related to the existence of educated individuals who make up that democratic society. Therefore, it can be stated that societies with a high level of education are of a high level of democracy. For this purpose, panel data method was used to measure the effect of education on democracy for high income country group in the period of 1990 and 2015 and the effect of education on democracy was investigated. According to the findings, it was found out that education had a positive effect on democracy. Since the selected country group has a high level of education, the finding reveals the importance of educated individuals for advanced democracy. Therefore, the result of this study supports the view that one of the factors that have a high level of development in high-income countries compared to other advanced democratic also contributes to this study.