31.

‘Democracies do not appear to be very successful in reducing economic inequalities’. Examine the statement with examples. 

It is seen that on an average, dictatorial regimes have had a slightly better record of economic growth, i.e. 4.34%. However, if this record is compared with that in the poor countries, there is almost no difference. It is 4.28%. Within democracies, there can be very high levels of economic inequality. In countries such as South Africa and Brazil, the top 20% people appropriate more than 60% of the national income, whereas less than 3% remains for the bottom 20%. However, as research shows, economic development and economic equality often depend on several factors such as country’s size, global situation, cooperation from other countries and economic priorities. While countries such as Sweden and Norway have achieved greater levels of economic equality, countries with more complex problems like India have so far been slow in achieving this goal.