hugely valuable public good called freedom.
And yet we can argue that these freedoms existed long before many of those countries achieved democracy. Initially held by a ruling aristocracy, economic expansion meant that a lot more people had incentives to want freedom. The transition to democracy was much more gradual than you seem to describe, and many democratic countries could be considered prosperous long before they became truly democratic. The poeple sought to secure and protect such freedoms, not acquire them.
