Why do dictators have so many kids?
Eric Barker flags an interesting paper from a few years back looking into whether autocratic leaders have more children: Economists have come to learn that politics matters. But survival matters the most to those involved in politics. We provide a theory whereby non-benevolent, non-democratic leaders increase their expected family size to raise the likelihood that ...
Eric Barker flags an interesting paper from a few years back looking into whether autocratic leaders have more children:
Economists have come to learn that politics matters. But survival matters the most to those involved in politics. We provide a theory whereby non-benevolent, non-democratic leaders increase their expected family size to raise the likelihood that a child will be a match at continuing the regime’s survival. As a consequence, having a larger family size raises the non-democratic leader’s expected rents that they can exploit from the citizenry. In contrast, democratic leaders have a lower desire to appropriate rents from the citizenry, and therefore have a diminished desire to have additional children for these purposes. We construct a data set of the number of children of country leaders as of August 31, 2005. We find that in a sample of 221 country leaders, fully non-democratic leaders have approximately 1.5–2.5 more actual children as compared to if they are fully democratic.
The authors, Dustin Beckett of the Federal Reserve and Gregory Hess of Claremont McKenna, find evidence to support the rent-seeking theory but say more research is needed to prove that dictators have more kids because they're seeking to perpetuate a family regime.
Eric Barker flags an interesting paper from a few years back looking into whether autocratic leaders have more children:
Economists have come to learn that politics matters. But survival matters the most to those involved in politics. We provide a theory whereby non-benevolent, non-democratic leaders increase their expected family size to raise the likelihood that a child will be a match at continuing the regime’s survival. As a consequence, having a larger family size raises the non-democratic leader’s expected rents that they can exploit from the citizenry. In contrast, democratic leaders have a lower desire to appropriate rents from the citizenry, and therefore have a diminished desire to have additional children for these purposes. We construct a data set of the number of children of country leaders as of August 31, 2005. We find that in a sample of 221 country leaders, fully non-democratic leaders have approximately 1.5–2.5 more actual children as compared to if they are fully democratic.
The authors, Dustin Beckett of the Federal Reserve and Gregory Hess of Claremont McKenna, find evidence to support the rent-seeking theory but say more research is needed to prove that dictators have more kids because they’re seeking to perpetuate a family regime.
In some sense, people who are forced to live under ruling families should probably hope that their dictators have lots of kids for the simple reason that at least a couple of them are boudn to be screw-ups and it’s better for everyone if there’s a backup plan. For example, whatever you think of Saif Qaddafi, Libyans are probably better off with the Davos-schmoozing LSE PH.D. than his brother Hannibal, whose tastes run more toward drunk driving and aggravated assault.
Or maybe they just want more people to shop for.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
More from Foreign Policy
Lessons for the Next War
Twelve experts weigh in on how to prevent, deter, and—if necessary—fight the next conflict.
It’s High Time to Prepare for Russia’s Collapse
Not planning for the possibility of disintegration betrays a dangerous lack of imagination.
Turkey Is Sending Cold War-Era Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
The artillery-fired cluster munitions could be lethal to Russian troops—and Ukrainian civilians.
Congrats, You’re a Member of Congress. Now Listen Up.
Some brief foreign-policy advice for the newest members of the U.S. legislature.
Sign up for Morning Brief
Foreign Policy’s flagship daily newsletter with what’s coming up around the world today. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
