Cultural alignment can make bedfellows out of autocracy and literacy

a column by Nuno Palma and Jaime Reis for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Can less democratic forms of government lead to higher literacy rates?

This column uses a sample of over 4,000 individuals from military archives in Portugal to show that an autocracy can have greater educational success than a democracy if it has closer cultural alignment with the preferences of the masses. This understanding has implications for development policy in poor countries today.

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