>Carl Dassbach wrote, >> In my opinion, the assertion that "economic freedom" is positively >> correlated with average GDP . . . neither merits nor warrants attention. >It does merit attention if it is part of an attempt to discriminate >among three different propositions: > 1. democracy promotes capitalism > 2. democracy has no systematic impact on capitalism > 3. democracy tends to hinder capitalism >(Ignoring, here, the impact of capitalism on political structure). >Each of these propositions are very interesting and are >worthy of being tested. I'm not sure which proposition >is "true." > >Sloppy empirical tests of the above (if all existing tests >are, indeed, sloppy) are helpful in showing that others should >try to test the above propositions more carefully. > In the first place, who would want to promote capitalism - that is, inequality, class domination and private ownership of the means of production. Second, If anything, capitalism historically promotes democracy, not vice versa. It promotes formal equality to overcome the feudal inequalities of status which were a major hindrances to contract and to also conceal substantive inequality. . Finally, a technical question, if these propositions were interesting (and they are NOT) how would you differentiate between them - make up some indicators, crunch some numbers and prove nothing or prove what we want to prove. The quality of social life can never be measured quantitatively. It is impossible. Complaints about the imprecision of tools or sloppy methods are merely an excuse for a failure to recognize the impossibility of the task. Historical process are neither replicable nor testable - they are historically specific and therefore unique. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Carl H.A. Dassbach E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dept. of Social Sciences Phone: (906)487-2115 Michigan Technological University Fax: (906)487-2468 Houghton, MI 49931 USA
