Reside, RenatoFabella, Vigile Marie B.Oyales, Czarina Eva I.2025-01-242025-01-242008-03https://selib.upd.edu.ph/etdir/handle/123456789/4237In the past decade, history has witnessed the rapid economic growth of countries whose political systems deviate from conventional democratic philosophy. Countries such as Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, among others, have become bigwig economies rivalling major players like the United States and the UK. On the other hand, democratic, low-income countries have experienced relatively sluggish growth. In this paper, we explore the influence of democracy and political freedom on economic growth, utilizing poverty reduction as its indicator. We will focus on identifying the requisites of a functioning democracy that will enable it to effectively reduce poverty within the context of developing nations. Utilizing the 2-Staged Least Squares method of estimation, our findings suggest that democracy in general, has a negative influence on poverty reduction for developing countries. However, when complemented with trade openness, primary education, regulatory quality, government effectiveness, and voice and accountability, the outcome becomes positive.enPovertySocioeconomic factorDemocracyPoliticsSocial welfareDemographic inequalityThesis