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The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Investigation of the Settler Mortality Data

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Author Info
David Albouy (Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley)

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Abstract

In a seminal contribution, Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001) evaluate the effect of property rights institutions on national income using estimated mortality rates of early European settlers as an instrument for the risk of capital expropriation. Returning to their original sources, I find the settler mortality data suffer from a number of inconsistencies, comparability problems, and questionable geographic assignments. When various methods are used to deal with these issues, the first-stage relationship between mortality and expropriation risk is no longer robust and typically insignificant. Consequently instrumental variable estimates are unreliable and suffer from weak instrument pathologies.

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Paper provided by Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley in its series Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series with number 1055.

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Date of creation: 01 May 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ciders:1055

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Keywords: economic history; development; institutions; growth; colonialism; property rights; European settlement; mortality; measurement error; weak instrument;

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  1. Donald W.K. Andrews & Marcelo Moreira & James H. Stock, 2004. "Optimal Invariant Similar Tests for Instrumental Variables Regression," NBER Technical Working Papers 0299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why Do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output per Worker than Others?," NBER Working Papers 6564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Mauro, Paolo, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Nelson, C. & Startz, R., 1988. "Some Furthere Results On The Exact Small Sample Properties Of The Instrumental Variable Estimator," Discussion Papers in Economics at the University of Washington 88-06, Department of Economics at the University of Washington.
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  6. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
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  7. Jean-Marie Dufour, 1997. "Some Impossibility Theorems in Econometrics with Applications to Structural and Dynamic Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(6), pages 1365-1388, November.
  8. Charles R. Nelson & Richard Startz & Eric Zivot, 1996. "Valid Confidence Intervals and Inference in the Presence of Weak Instruments," Econometrics 9612002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Dollar, David & Kraay, Aart, 2003. "Institutions, trade, and growth : revisiting the evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3004, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Marcelo J. Moreira, 2003. "A General Theory of Hypothesis Testing in the Simultaneous Equations Model," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1992, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  11. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Olsson, Ola, 2004. "Unbundling Ex-Colonies: A Comment on Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson, 2001," Working Papers in Economics 146, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Michael Bleaney & Arcangelo Dimico, . "Geography Matters: Reconsidering the Effect of Geography on Development," Discussion Papers 08/14, University of Nottingham, CREDIT. [Downloadable!]
  3. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2008. "Root Causes of African Underdevelopment," Departmental Working Papers 2008-16, Australian National University, Economics RSPAS. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Papaioannou, Elias & Siourounis, Gregorios, 2008. "Economic and Social Factors Driving the Third Wave of Democratization," CEPR Discussion Papers 6986, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Ian McLean, 2007. "Might Australia Have Failed? Endowments, Institutions and Contingency," Working Papers 0704, University of Adelaide, School of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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