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The impact of precolonial political centralisation on local development: Ghana’s paradox

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  • Mohammed Iddrisu Kambala

Abstract

I investigate the impact of precolonial political centralisation (PPC) on local development in Ghana. Accounting for the potential endogeneity associated with the emergence of political centralisation, I find that PPC has a strong negative impact on local development. Further, PPC does not significantly correlate with the provision of local public goods. These results are robust to a battery of sensitivity checks and a wealth of controls at a fine unit. Two mechanisms plausibly explain these findings. First, I show that past colonial public investments, which still significantly determine contemporary development outcomes in Ghana, disfavoured politically centralised regions. Second, I argue that in centralised areas colonial rule might have empowered despotic local patrons who served the interest of the colonial state at the expense of local development.

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  • Mohammed Iddrisu Kambala, 2023. "The impact of precolonial political centralisation on local development: Ghana’s paradox," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 163-178, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:51:y:2023:i:2:p:163-178
    DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2022.2115474
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