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This article updates our earlier finding that democracies outperformed dictatorships in 1950-90 by achieving lower infant mortality rates at every level of development. Now we show that this holds even post-Cold War and after the latest wave of democratization. Using 1990-97 data, we again find that democracies outdo dictatorships, though the difference is somewhat smaller now. One key finding is relevant to policymakers: foreign direct investment and aid both significantly reduce IMRs in democracies, but not in dictatorships. Giving money to dictatorships, whether in the form of aid or investment, makes either no difference or even hurts children born there.

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Policy-makers and scholars continue to express concerns that the EU suffers from a 'democratic deficit'. But most democratic deficit arguments are not based on recent empirical research; and seeing the EU as "sui generis", they fail to compare the EU to other polities. This article compares the European 'regulatory state' with two federal democracies, the United States and Switzerland, in recent merger regulation. Its main finding is that European merger regulation is less democratic than American, but more democratic than Swiss regulation. If the EU suffers from a democratic deficit, it is hardly alone. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.

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