The Colonial and Geographic Origins of Comparative Development

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The Colonial and Geographic Origins of Comparative Development

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Auer, Raphael () (Swiss National Bank)

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Raphael Anton Auer

Abstract

While the direct impact of geographic endowments on prosperity is present in all countries, in former colonies, geography has also affected colonization policies and institutional outcomes. Thus, one can disentangle the partial effects of endowments and institutions on income by utilizing the interaction of geography and colonial experience. I first document that climate and disease did affect institutional development in the group of former colonies while this is not the case in the rest of the world. Second, I develop an empirical strategy that identifies the relation between institutions and income but that also accounts for the direct effect of endowments. I find that institutions are the main determinant of development and that endowments also have a sizeable direct impact on development. Third, I highlight the importance of disease environment for both colonization policies and income directly.

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Paper provided by Swiss National Bank in its series Working Papers with number 2008-8.

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Length: 76 pages
Date of creation: 10 Mar 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ris:snbwpa:2008_008

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F54 - International Economics - - International Relations and International Political Economy - - - Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
P16 - Economic Systems - - Capitalist Systems - - - Political Economy of Capitalism
P51 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
R11 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Analysis of Growth, Development, and Changes

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2008-07-20 (All new papers)
NEP-DEV-2008-07-20 (Development)
NEP-HIS-2008-07-20 (Business, Economic & Financial History)

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