The Impact of Political Institutions on Human Development: An Empirical Analysis

Van, Germinal (2022): The Impact of Political Institutions on Human Development: An Empirical Analysis.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between political institutions and human development. How do political institutions affect human development in civil societies? This paper argues that political institutions play a fundamental role in the process of human development. This paper hypothesized that political institutions play a positive role in human development and the quality of life of people in general because the role of political institutions is to establish a legal framework designed to protect the rights and liberties of individuals in a civil society.

The more effective are political institutions, the better quality of life of people improves. After testing our hypothesis, the empirical results confirmed that our theory is supported by the data. We found the relationship between political institutions and human development to be statistically very significant with a positive correlation of moderate magnitude. Hence, we conclude that political institutions do exert a positive impact on human development, but this impact is only moderately effective.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Econometrics, Multiple Regression, Regression Analysis, Quantitative Economics, Development Economics, Political Science
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C10 - General; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C5 - Econometric Modeling > C50 - General; H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H11 - Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems

References

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2. Ibid.

3. About Human Development. United Nations Development Program—Human Development Reports.

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5. Ibid. p. 35

6. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Social Contract. (1762).

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8. Ibid.

9. Ward, Lee. Modern Democracy and the Theological-Problem in Spinoza, Rousseau, and Jefferson. (2014). Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 25-26. ISBN: 9781137475053. “Calvin’s republican sympathies derived from his views of human nature as deeply flawed. Compound or mixed government reflects the reality that human frailty justifies and necessitates institutional checks and balances to the magistrate’s presumed propensity to abuse power. It was this commitment to checks and balances that became the basis of Calvin’s resistance theory, according to which inferior magistrates have a duty to resist or restrain a tyrannical sovereign.

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11. Ibid.

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13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.