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Historical Legacies: A Model Linking Africa's Past to its Current Underdevelopment

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Nathan Nunn (University of British Columbia)

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Abstract

Recent studies have found evidence linking Africa’s current underdevelopment to colonial rule and the slave trade. Given that these events ended long ago, why do they continue to matter today? I develop a model, exhibiting path dependence, that explains how these past events could have lasting impacts. The model has multiple equilibria: one equilibrium with secure property rights and a high level of production and others with insecure property rights and low levels of production. I show that external extraction, when severe enough, causes a society initially in the high production equilibrium to move to a low production equilibrium. Because of the stability of low production equilibria, the society remains trapped in this suboptimal equilibrium even after the period of external extraction ends. The model provides one explanation why Africa’s past events continue to matter today.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0508008.

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Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: 22 Aug 2005
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0508008

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 37
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O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth
P - Economic Systems

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  15. Nathan Nunn, 2005. "Slavery, Institutional Development and Long-Run Growth in Africa," 2005 Meeting Papers 57, Society for Economic Dynamics. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gradstein, M., 2007. "Institutional Traps and Economic Growth," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0769, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  2. Alexander Moradi, 2008. "Confronting colonial legacies-lessons from human development in Ghana and Kenya, 1880-2000," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 1107-1121. [Downloadable!]
  3. Naude, Wim, 2007. "Geography and Development in Africa: Overview and Implications for Regional Cooperation," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
  4. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2008. "Root Causes of African Underdevelopment," Departmental Working Papers 2008-16, Australian National University, Economics RSPAS. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2007. "The effects of technology-as-knowledge on the economic performance of developing countries: An econometric analysis using annual publications data for Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, 1976-2004," MPRA Paper 3482, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  6. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2008. "Domestic resources, governance, global links, and the economic performance of Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 11193, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  7. Gradstein, Mark, 2007. "Institutional Traps and Economic Growth," CEPR Discussion Papers 6414, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2008. "Institutions, Diseases and Economic Progress: A Unified Framework," Departmental Working Papers 2008-15, Australian National University, Economics RSPAS. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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