Abstract
The word “democracy” means “the rule of people”. Following the etymology of the word, it would be assumed that democracy strives to achieve, to quote the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “the greatest happiness for the greatest number”. Although happiness is not necessarily measured by affluence and wealth, the latter facilitates the material aspect of the former. It would be therefore incompatible to see democracy in societies in which wealth is focused in a small number of hands. One could set the following hypothesis: Democracy and inequality in income and wealth are inversely correlated. More democratic societies will have less inequality and vice-versa, less democratic societies will have bigger differences in a distribution of income and wealth.
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