Rome was never a democracy in anything like the sense we understand it (only a tiny proportion of the population could vote, certain level of wealth was required to run for office etc.). But in general democracies seem to have higher living standards, While obviously its difficult to control for other factors, natural experiments might be different states in south america and africa which moved to democracy at different times.
Rome was never a democracy in anything like the sense we understand it (only a tiny proportion of the population could vote, certain level of wealth was required to run for office etc.). But in general democracies seem to have higher living standards, While obviously its difficult to control for other factors, natural experiments might be different states in south america and africa which moved to democracy at different times.