IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/wbecrv/v34y2020isupplement_1ps46-s51..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geography, Climate, and Genes in Development Studies

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Klitgaard
  • Johannes W Fedderke
  • Valerio Napolioni

Abstract

Over the coming decade, much more genetic data will enter into the study of economic development. This paper provides an example and emphasizes the uses and misuses of such information. It has assembled for the first time national frequencies of the ACP1 genetic polymorphism and the Interleukin-6 (IL6-174G) and Interleukin-10 (IL10-1082G) cytokines. These three respond over the centuries to ultraviolet radiation and infectious diseases. The study also looks at a national measure of heterozygotic diversity. In particular, it finds that ACP1 frequencies are significantly related to national outcomes ranging from GDP per capita to type and quality of governance, to measures of national “competitiveness,” to health, to fertility, to measures of satisfaction with life. These associations do not seem explainable by reverse causation nor by the influence of some of the usual variables in studies of long-run development. Nonetheless, these results do not mean that a few genes have a direct causal effect on world development. The ACP1*B variable is surely picking up the influences of many genetic and cultural adaptations over evolutionary time in response to ultraviolet exposure and pathogen burdens. This study's findings thus support other research indicating the importance of disease environments in shaping both genetic and sociocultural adaptations that have influence on development outcomes today. The paper concludes with a discussion of what such strong associations mean and do not mean, in hopes of guiding future studies of genes and other deep roots of economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Klitgaard & Johannes W Fedderke & Valerio Napolioni, 2020. "Geography, Climate, and Genes in Development Studies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(Supplemen), pages 46-51.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:34:y:2020:i:supplement_1:p:s46-s51.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhz034
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Enrico Spolaore & Romain Wacziarg, 2013. "How Deep Are the Roots of Economic Development?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(2), pages 325-369, June.
    2. Timothy J. Hatton, 2014. "How have Europeans grown so tall?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 349-372.
    3. Transparency International TI, 2012. "Corruption Perceptions Index 2012," Working Papers id:5186, eSocialSciences.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jingwen Huo & Peipei Chen & Klaus Hubacek & Heran Zheng & Jing Meng & Dabo Guan, 2022. "Full‐scale, near real‐time multi‐regional input–output table for the global emerging economies (EMERGING)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1218-1232, August.
    2. Junaid Ashraf, 2022. "Do political risk and globalization undermine environmental quality? Empirical evidence from Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3647-3664, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cannizzaro, Anthony P. & Weiner, Robert J., 2015. "Multinational investment and voluntary disclosure: Project-level evidence from the petroleum industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 32-47.
    2. Ines Lindner & Holger Strulik, 2020. "Innovation And Inequality In A Small World," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(2), pages 683-719, May.
    3. Minkler, Lanse & Prakash, Nishith, 2017. "The role of constitutions on poverty: A cross-national investigation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 563-581.
    4. Seiffert, Sebastian, 2015. "The Role of Economic Geography in Subnational African Development," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113186, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Tiago Neves Sequeira & Marcelo Santos, 2019. "Technology in 1500 and genetic diversity," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1145-1165, April.
    6. Vu, Trung V., 2021. "Do genetically fragmented societies respond less to global warming? Diversity and climate change policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    8. Chae, Minhee & Hatton, Timothy J. & Meng, Xin, 2023. "Explaining trends in adult height in China: 1950 to 1990," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina & Miho, Antonela & Jarotschkin, Alexandra, 2019. "Diffusion of Gender Norms: Evidence from Stalin's Ethnic Deportations," CEPR Discussion Papers 13865, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Mbassi, Christophe Martial & Messono, Omang Ombolo, 2023. "Historical technology and current economic development: Reassessing the nature of the relationship," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    11. Goran Dostic & Zdravko Todorovic & Igor Todorovic, 2013. "International Aid And Principal-Agent Relationship: Evidence From Bosnia And Herzegovina," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 9(1), pages 115-126.
    12. Qiliang Mao & Xianzhuang Mao, 2021. "Cultural barriers, institutional distance, and spatial spillovers: Evidence from regional industrial evolution in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 1440-1481, September.
    13. Vu, Tien Manh & Yamada, Hiroyuki, 2023. "Legacies of Vietnam's imperial examinations, 1075–1919: More investment in education and better educational outcomes," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 2-14.
    14. Krisztina Kis-Katos & Günther G. Schulze, 2013. "Corruption in Southeast Asia: a survey of recent research," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 79-109, May.
    15. Cemal Eren Arbath & Quamral H. Ashraf & Oded Galor & Marc Klemp, 2018. "Diversity and Conflict," Working Papers 2018-6, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    16. van Hoorn, Andre, 2016. "The Cultural Roots of Human Capital Accumulation," MPRA Paper 80007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Lindemann, Henrik, 2015. "Does Regulatory Independence Translate into a Higher Degree of Liberalization? - Evidence from EU Energy Regulators," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-545, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    18. Tobias Zander, 2020. "Does corruption matter for FDI flows in the OECD? A gravity analysis," EIIW Discussion paper disbei280, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    19. Douglas L. Campbell & Ju Hyun Pyun, 2017. "The Diffusion of Development: Along Genetic or Geographic Lines?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 198-210, March.
    20. Davide Fiaschi & Andrea Mario Lavezzi & Angela Parenti, 2020. "Deep and Proximate Determinants of the World Income Distribution," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 677-710, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:34:y:2020:i:supplement_1:p:s46-s51.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wrldbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.