Liberal Democracy and Education-based Inequality in Post Cold-War Era

A widely held belief about democracy is that it contributes to greater equality among citizens. We challenge this view by arguing that certain features of liberal democracy, including voluntary participation and protection of private rights, may exacerbate a particular form of inequality based on educational attainment. To substantiate this claim, we analyze two major cross-country, longitudinal surveys matched with regime-level characteristics. Using a within-country estimator and an instrumental variables approach, we find that the difference in emotional and material well-being between the educated and less educated becomes substantially larger as countries become more democratic. We further provide evidence on the posited mechanisms by showing that democracy fosters greater participation gap and more polarized economic attitudes across education groups. We discuss the normative implications of our findings and their relevance for understanding the cause of the rising global tide of populism.