Edward Glaeser argues in his Economix blog post today that countries with high levels of education are much more likely to have strongly democratic insttutions. While Thomas Jefferson made a similar argument a few centuries earlier, Jefferson’s econometric skills were a bit more limited.
In a political environment (and on an election day) in which prevarication still seems to often be the norm, it is encouraging to think that continuing increases in human capital investment will help to improve political debate over time. John Stuart Mill made a similar point in 1863:
It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides.
