The role of political and economic freedoms in human development: Evidence from global sample

What are the prerequisites for economic development? What system should countries choose in the economic and political structures to achieve economic prosperity? Theoretically, there are some implications that political freedom is necessary for economic freedom and economic development. In fact, it is the choice of a democratic political structure that puts countries on the path of development. Of course, some believe that political freedom is not a necessary condition, and countries can move towards development without political freedom. Accordingly,, there are two general views regarding the development process. On one hand, some believe that development is a fierce process that requires an iron fist. As a result, political and economic freedoms can be postponed until per capita income increases sufficiently. On the other hand, others consider development as a friendly process and believe that a growth-oriented strategy will be possible along with the strengthening of political and social freedoms. The present paper evaluates the role of political and economic freedoms to achieve human development. TIn this regard, the Freedom House, Fraser’s Economic Freedom, and Human Development Indices for 119 countries from the 1970 to 2018 (including 2497 observations) were collected. The findings showed that the level of political freedom explains the difference in human development and its sub-indicators (per capita income, education, and health) among countries in the world. The role of economic freedom is also weakly confirmed for the 1990s onwards. Therefore, human development is not possible without the expansion of civil liberties and political rights based on democracy, although the democracy alone may not be enough.