Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Acemoglu, Daron
• Johnson, Simon
• Robinson, James A.

Titel

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation

Ist Teil von

• The American economic review, 2001-12, Vol.91 (5), p.1369-1401

Ort / Verlag

Nashville: American Economic Association

Erscheinungsjahr

2001

Quelle

Business Source Ultimate

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We exploit differences in European mortality rates to estimate the effect of institutions on economic performance. Europeans adopted very different colonization policies in different colonies, with different associated institutions. In places where Europeans faced high mortality rates, they could not settle and were more likely to set up extractive institutions. These institutions persisted to the present. Exploiting differences in European mortality rates as an instrument for current institutions, we estimate large effects of institutions on income per capita. Once the effect of institutions is controlled for, countries in Africa or those closer to the equator do not have lower incomes.