This paper examines the causal link between education and democracy. Motivated by a model whereby educated individuals … are in a better position to assess the effects of public policies and hence favor democracy where their opinions matter …, the empirical analysis uses World Values Surveys to study the link between education and democratic attitudes. Controlling …

and effective democracy, research has produced rather weak and mixed support for the idea that the socially trusting … between generalized social trust, on the one hand, and confidence in political institutions and satisfaction with democracy …