The evidence in Tables 7 and 8 lead

The evidence in Tables 7 and 8 leads to another reason for skepticism about the primacy of
political constraints for economic development: although nearly all poor countries in 1960 were
dictatorships, some of them have managed to get out of poverty, while others stayed poor. This
kind of evidence is at least suggestive that it is the choices made by the dictators, rather than the
constraints on them, that have allowed some poor countries to emerge from poverty. If being a
stable democracy, with all the effective constitutional constraints on the executive, is not an option 19
for a poor country, and if dictatorship is the more likely political path, then it is crucial to
understand what makes for a successful dictatorship.