We have now added an indicator of how countries are governed. This indicator puts countries on a spectrum from democracy to autocracy through expert scoring on a number of criteria. The range of the indicator is from 10 (fully instititutionalized democracy) to -10 (hereditary monarchy). See the example graph here (look at the colour of the bubbles for the democracy score). Data are available all the way from 1800 to 2007.
The Polity IV dataset is produced by a group based at the University of Maryland in the United States. Indicators of democracy are always subjective and Polity is no exception. However, this dataset is clearly documented: is is very clear what the questions the researchers have asked themselves and what their answers are to these question. The full documentation is available here.
Because these data are ordinal – meaning that we can say that a higher score means more democracy, but not necessarily that the difference between a score of 9 and 10 means the same as the difference between, say, 0 and 1 – the most appropriate way to use this indicator is for colouring the bubbles, as in the example graph above.
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While the chart – as shown – is extremely informative, it does not show the all too apparent separation between the actual governors and those governed. Fairly simple examinations show that in many – possibly even in the majority of nations, there is some form of ruling oligarchy, to which us peons have to eventually kow-tow, – or start a revolution. Winston Churchill once said something like “I hate democracy, but it is the best form of government we have…” Also, so far as I’m aware, all forms of government extant today base their rule on FEAR of consequences, not on people’s abilities, achievements or contributions made to society. Apparently, the early Amerindians DID have such societies, where one’s contributions to society formed the definitions of richness and wealth, not the amount one had deposited in a bank.
How is the data for the next 200 years or so determined? (Several countries have data beyond 2009.)
Incidentally, what would be really useful would be to be able to dynamically create new indicators derived from others — in particular, dividing certain indicators, like total debt, by other indicators, like GDP, and charting those against other indicators, might lead to interesting insights.
The other day we discussed democracy from the % of population eligible to vote, that actually vote. It was easy to find statistics from Sweden, but it not so easy to find it from, i.e. the US.
% of population voting could be interesting to test as a Democracy indicator.
Likewise, % of income per person that goes to govenment spending = the collective tax.
Since, I am sure that Household Income statement per person (=Household budget per person) will be put into reality of economics in the furture. Because the income statement per person should basically follow Maslow’s theory of need (a theory I personally think will be revised) – and thus spending of time or money will want to be tested.
Interesting though – there does not yet seam to be an accounting standard for Household economics. So it should make for an interesting academic task to publish.
There it was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout
And I found tax% – even though it was far lower than I thought for Sweden.
On Wikipedia “Voter turnout” it says that “Wealth and literacy have some effect on turnout, but are not reliable measures.” and “The United Nations Human Development Index shows some correlation between higher standards of living and higher turnout.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
Interesting enough, UN-HDI might be the combined penthouse apartment of perceived and benchmarked happiness, which also could make an interesting indicator.
Talking about Democracy:
“Within his first day in office, President Obama signed off the Memorandum of Transparency and Open Government and the Freedom of Information Act. Both clearly aim to engage the public in policy making and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.”
Source: http://infosthetics.com/archives/2009/03/open_up_government_data.html
Ola,
thanks for the great idea of adding voter turn-out. That is certainly an issue that would be interesting to look at over time, since it is often debated. We will see if we can add it in the future.
regards,
Mattias, Gapminder
I noticed that this is not the first time you mention the topic. Why have you chosen it again?