Growth verrsus democracy?

I have belatedly caught on to a new angle of attack against economic growth. According to John Kampfner’s Freedom for Sale, published in September, many countries have agreed to forsake democracy in return for higher growth. Kampfner’s book is reviewed in The National, an Abu Dhabi publication, by George Scialabba.

As far as I can gather Kampfner is unaware of the substantial volume by Benjamin Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, which argues the opposite is generally the case. There is a link to my review of Friedman’s book in the left hand column.