Daron Acemoglu in Project Syndicate:
In the US and around the world, people are increasingly dissatisfied with democracy – particularly younger cohorts, which report a growing preference for left-wing or right-wing authoritarian regimes. On both sides of the Atlantic, it is now common to hear arguments advocating new forms of socialism or a move away from economic growth altogether.
This is a dangerous intellectual shift. The core assumptions behind such proposals are even more wrongheaded than the idea that economic and political liberalism are inevitable. As my own work shows, democracies do indeed outperform non-democracies quite consistently, both historically and in recent decades. Democracies deliver not only stronger economic growth, but also better health care and education for their citizens, notably the least well-off.
More here.