In recent years, empirical investigations have shown that various aspects of physical geography are closely related to the quality of a country’s economic institutions. For instance, distance from the equator in latitude degrees is positively correlated to both institutional quality and to levels of economic development. In order to reach a better understanding for this type of regularities, this article reviews the growing empirical literature on geography and institutions, as well as a large body of older and newer theoretical works on the social impacts of geography. It is argued that the most plausible candidates for explaining the broadest cross-continental variance in institutional quality are those focusing on historical differences in biogeographical potential for early agriculture and on the importance of disease geography for European colonization strategy.
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Paper provided by Göteborg University, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers in Economics with number
106.
Length: 28 pages Date of creation: 25 Sep 2003 Date of revision: Publication status: Forthcoming in Journal of Economics. Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0106
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Find related papers by JEL classification: N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative P33 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - International Linkages
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