superjillwinter

[superjillwinter]

Data Management & Visualization Assignment #1

After much deliberation and reviewing the different code books, I have decided to use the GapMinder codebook to focus on if there is a relationship between polity and income per person. This topic peaked my interest because of media coverage of different countries and their respective polity. This made me wonder about the average income per person in the various countries and if polity influences the income. In order to delve into this topic, I have decided to add income per person and polity to my code book. A few questions I would ask myself during this project is:

- Countries with low polity such as Cuba, and North Korea, are their income per person higher or lower compared to countries, such as America and England, with high polity?

- Which countries have polity around -1 to 1, what is the average income per person, and how does it compare to other countries on the spectrum?

- Which countries has the highest income per person and is there a connection to polity?

- Which countries have the lowest income per person and is there a connection to polity?

- What is the income gap between the citizens of a democratic state and a non-democratic state?

Another topic related to my thesis is the impact of polity and life expectancy and if there is a correlation. After skimming the data and considering adding life expectancy, I had a few more questions such as:

- If the polity score is between -7 and  -10 is life expectancy lower than citizens living in countries with polity ranging from 6-10?

- Which countries have the highest life expectancy? What is the polity of those countries? What is the income per person?

- Which countries have the lowest life expectancy? What is the polity of those countries? What is the income per person?

- What is the age gap between the citizens of a democratic state and a non-democratic state?

For this aspect of my thesis, I will add life expectancy to my codebook. To summarize my thesis will focus on if polity impacts the income per person, and if polity impacts life expectancy.

In M. Ozan Saray’s report “The effect of democracy on income: An analysis of countries affected by coups d’etat”, Saray review various scholars ideas regarding polity and income. Saray mentions that some studies have found a weak correlation to democracy and income, while other studies, such as Seymour Martin Lipset, have reported a correlation and higher income achieves higher levels of democracy. In this report graphs are presented with select countries’ GDP per person and polity. I am critical of this information because it does not show all or even a majority of the countries in the world. Although Saray’s report is a good starting point, I believe that it needs more evidence to prove its point. For example Saray mentions Greece as being the most democratic country in the list of 20 countries, and even mentions that it is a part of the European Union, however the graph does not show other countries in the EU or America. It also does not show countries such as Cuba and North Korea as examples for countries with the least amount of democracy.

In Martin Paldam and Erich Gundlach’s report “Jumps into democracy: Integrating the short and long run in the Democratic Transition” it states that, after reviewing multiple articles and research, it can not support the claim that income causes democracy. Paldam and Gundlach also considers if democracy cause income, which based on the evidence in the readings they cited, allows them to believe that income is based on democracy. Paldam and Gundlach ran various regression models to determine what happens to income when a country is transitioning to a democratic state. They consider the short and long term run and the effect of triggered events and the role it plays on income. It also showed that the lower the polity, the lower the income; however, their research was based on a few countries. I thought this article was very interesting, and considered many points that other article sis not. Their data was fully explained and considered various options whether there is a correlation between income and democracy.

Based on my research there are not a lot of accessible articles and research regarding life expectancy and polity. Due to the lack  of information, I can only hypothesize that life expectancy is lower in low polity countries. This hypothesis is based on my knowledge that areas with low polity tend to have a large military presence enforcing the laws and harsh punishment. Another reason I believe the life expectancy is low is the citizens have low income and may not have access to adequate amounts of food, and medical attention.

Based on these reports, my hypothesis for this thesis is the more democratic the country is the higher the income per person and the higher the life expectancy. I think the more freedom citizens in the country has to advance and know that their opinion matters, the more they will work to improve the economy of the country.

Sources:

Paldam, Martin, and Erich Gundlach. "Jumps into democracy." (2018)

Saray, Ozan." The Effect of Democracy on Income: An Analysis of Countries Affected by Coups d’état." Panoeconomicus [Online], (0): 1-24. Web. 4 Sep. 2018