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Blood, education and economic Development: How the 19th century wars in Latin America Foiled its economic development

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  • Madsen, Jakob B.
  • Zaman, Miethy

Abstract

In this paper, we hypothesize that the prolonged wars in Latin America during most of the 19th century hindered human capital development and delayed economic progress well into the 20th century. Collecting novel data for the seven largest Latin American economies over the period 1820–2016, we show that the extraordinarily large share of military expenditure in total spending crowded out investment in education and R&D, which in turn had persistent effects on economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Madsen, Jakob B. & Zaman, Miethy, 2025. "Blood, education and economic Development: How the 19th century wars in Latin America Foiled its economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:192:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25001354
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107050
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

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