PSC 100: Chapter 6 - Economic Determinates of Democracy and Dictaorship

GDP per capita

stands for gross domestic product per capita. Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country during a specified period, usually one year.

• GDP per capita is a country’s gross domestic product divided by the size of the population.

Modernization theory

predicts that democracy is more likely to emerge and survive as countries develop and become richer.

Przeworski’s Survival Story

predicts that democracy is more likely to survive as countries develop and become richer, but it is not more likely to emerge

Sovereign debt

refers to debt that is accrued by the sovereign, that is, the government

A credible commitment problem

or a time-inconsistency problem, occurs when

(a) an actor who makes a promise today may have incentive to renege on that promise in the future

and

(b) power is in the hands of the actor who makes the promise and not in the hands of those expected to benefit from the promise

Political resource curse

countries that rely heavily on revenue from natural resources are unlikely to democratize.

• They are also prone to corruption, poor governance, and civil war

Natural resources

are naturally occurring substances that are usually considered valuable, such as oil, diamonds, and minerals

Foreign aid

is aid - in the form of money, food, technical assistance, military weapons, and the like - that people in one country give to another.

• This aid can come from national governments, intergovernmental organizations, or private donations.

Dependent variable

is an outcome or thing we want to explain

An independent or explanatory variable

is what we think will explain, or determine the value of, the dependent variable

Significance test

is used to see how likely it is that we’ve identified a real relationship or pattern in our data

Results Table

• X is the Coefficient does x affect y and by how much

• If there are stars that have statistical effect use

• If not stars it does not affect the dependent variable

• Ignore the Log-likelihood, number of observations, and Constants in the Result Table 6.5

Scatterplot

• Dependent – Y (outcome) Independent – X (cause)

• [y=mx + b] – equation for a line

• Rise/run is M

Statistical Analysis Primer

• ´Dataset

• ´Scatterplot

• ´Results Table