Dec 3, 2023 04:07 AM
https://bigthink.com/the-present/price-a...democracy/
EXCERPTS: “Everyone has a price,” the cynical saying goes. In other words, there’s always an amount of money that would convince someone to do something they otherwise wouldn’t, like give up a prized possession, betray a friend, or behave immorally.
Researchers based out of Princeton University and the University of Barcelona recently explored whether this statement applies to democracy. Is there a price at which citizens of a country with free elections would give up their fundamental right to choose their representatives? The scientists’ findings, published November 20th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest there is indeed such a price — but reassuringly, it is quite high.
[...] The researchers were particularly interested in the interaction between individual income and the presence or absence of democratic elections. “Because we randomize the assignment of individual income, we can quantify the monetary value of democracy, that is, the price citizens demand to prefer a society without free elections,” they explained.
When the authors tallied the data, they discovered that respondents placed a very high value on democracy, far more than any of the other societal qualities. Participants from France and the U.S., whose countries each have hosted free and fair elections for over two hundred years, required raises of 236% and 219%, respectively, to choose to live in a non-democratic society over a democratic one. Participants from Brazil, whose country only returned to democracy in 1988, needed a 168% pay hike to give up the right to vote — slightly less, but still considerable.
To put America’s result into context, the average monthly income in the U.S. is roughly $6,000 (or $72,000 annually). Thus, the average American would need to make $19,165 per month ($230,000 annually) to choose to live in an authoritarian society rather than a democratic one.
The results counter the prevailing media and societal narrative that democracy is endangered, the researchers say. An NPR/Ipsos poll conducted in late 2021 found that 64% of Americans believed U.S. democracy “is in crisis and at risk of failing.” (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: “Everyone has a price,” the cynical saying goes. In other words, there’s always an amount of money that would convince someone to do something they otherwise wouldn’t, like give up a prized possession, betray a friend, or behave immorally.
Researchers based out of Princeton University and the University of Barcelona recently explored whether this statement applies to democracy. Is there a price at which citizens of a country with free elections would give up their fundamental right to choose their representatives? The scientists’ findings, published November 20th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest there is indeed such a price — but reassuringly, it is quite high.
[...] The researchers were particularly interested in the interaction between individual income and the presence or absence of democratic elections. “Because we randomize the assignment of individual income, we can quantify the monetary value of democracy, that is, the price citizens demand to prefer a society without free elections,” they explained.
When the authors tallied the data, they discovered that respondents placed a very high value on democracy, far more than any of the other societal qualities. Participants from France and the U.S., whose countries each have hosted free and fair elections for over two hundred years, required raises of 236% and 219%, respectively, to choose to live in a non-democratic society over a democratic one. Participants from Brazil, whose country only returned to democracy in 1988, needed a 168% pay hike to give up the right to vote — slightly less, but still considerable.
To put America’s result into context, the average monthly income in the U.S. is roughly $6,000 (or $72,000 annually). Thus, the average American would need to make $19,165 per month ($230,000 annually) to choose to live in an authoritarian society rather than a democratic one.
The results counter the prevailing media and societal narrative that democracy is endangered, the researchers say. An NPR/Ipsos poll conducted in late 2021 found that 64% of Americans believed U.S. democracy “is in crisis and at risk of failing.” (MORE - missing details)