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Correction to: The Influence of Ancestral Lifeways on Individual Economic Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Stelios Michalopoulos
  • Louis Putterman
  • David N Weil

Abstract

Does a person's historical lineage influence his or her current economic status? Motivated by a large literature in the social sciences stressing the effect of an early transition to agriculture on current economic performance at the country level, we examine the relative contemporary status of individuals as a function of how much their ancestors relied on agriculture during the preindustrial era. We focus on Africa, where—by combining anthropological records of groups with individual-level survey data—we can explore the effect of the historical lifeways of one's forefathers. Within enumeration areas (typically a single village or group of villages in the countryside and a city block in urban areas) as well as occupational groups, we find that individuals from ethnicities that derived a larger share of subsistence from agriculture in the precolonial era are today more educated and wealthy. A tentative exploration of channels suggests that differences in attitudes and beliefs as well as differential treatment by others, including differential political power, may contribute to these divergent outcomes.
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Suggested Citation

  • Stelios Michalopoulos & Louis Putterman & David N Weil, 2019. "Correction to: The Influence of Ancestral Lifeways on Individual Economic Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1336-1336.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:17:y:2019:i:4:p:1336-1336.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvz042
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    Cited by:

    1. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    2. Ulugbek Aminjonov & Maira Colacce & Olivier Bargain & Luca Tiberti, 2024. "Culture, Intrahousehold Distribution, and Individual Poverty," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(1), pages 127-165.
    3. Sébastien Fontenay & Paula Eugenia Gobbi & Marc Goñi, 2024. "Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Role of Inheritance," Working Papers ECARES 2024-01, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Fenske, James & Wang, Shizhuo, 2023. "Tradition and mortality: Evidence from twin infanticide in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Provenzano, Sandro, 2024. "Accountability failure in isolated areas: the cost of remoteness from the capital city," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120909, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Sara Lowes & Etienne Le Rossignol, 2022. "Ancestral Livelihoods and Moral Universalism: Evidence from Transhumant Pastoralist Societies," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-04083412, HAL.
    7. Graziella Bertocchi & Arcangelo Dimico & Gian Luca Tedeschi, 2022. "Strangers and Foreigners: Trust and Attitudes toward Citizenship," CHILD Working Papers Series 100 JEL Classification: J, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    8. Khan,Amjad Muhammad & Kuate,Landry & Pongou,Roland & Zhang,Fan, 2024. "Weather, Water, and Work : Climatic Water Variability and Labor MarketOutcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10823, The World Bank.
    9. Zhang, Zhe & Zhang, Xu & Putterman, Louis, 2019. "Trust and cooperation at a confluence of worlds: An experiment in Xinjiang, China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 128-144.
    10. Brodeur, Abel & Mabeu, Marie Christelle & Pongou, Roland, 2020. "Ancestral Norms, Legal Origins, and Female Empowerment," IZA Discussion Papers 13105, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Graziella Bertocchi & Angelo Dimico & Gian Luca Tedeschi, 2022. "Strangers and Foreigners: Trust and Attitudes toward Citizenship," Department of Economics 0200, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    12. Fintel, Dieter von & Fourie, Johan, 2019. "The great divergence in South Africa: Population and wealth dynamics over two centuries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 759-773.
    13. Alberto Alesina & Sebastian Hohmann & Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2021. "Intergenerational Mobility in Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(1), pages 1-35, January.
    14. Provenzano, Sandro, 2024. "Accountability failure in isolated areas: The cost of remoteness from the capital city," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Mukhopadhyay, Anwesh, 2025. "Colonial Persistence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1557, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    16. Leone Walters & Carolyn Chisadza & Matthew Clance, 2021. "The Effect of Colonial and Pre-Colonial Institutions on Contemporary Education in Africa," ERSA Working Paper Series, Economic Research Southern Africa, vol. 0.
    17. Andrew Dickens & Nils‐Petter Lagerlöf, 2023. "The long‐run agglomeration effects of early agriculture in Europe," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 629-651, July.
    18. Victor Gay, 2023. "The Intergenerational Transmission of World War I on Female Labour," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2303-2333.
    19. Arthur Blouin & Julian Dyer, 2021. "How Cultures Converge: An Empirical Investigation of Trade and Linguistic Exchange," Working Papers tecipa-691, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    20. Roessler, Philip & Pengl, Yannick I. & Marty, Robert & Titlow, Kyle Sorlie & van de Walle, Nicolas, 2022. "The cash crop revolution, colonialism and economic reorganization in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    21. Gershman, Boris, 2020. "Witchcraft beliefs as a cultural legacy of the Atlantic slave trade: Evidence from two continents," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    22. Chen, Na & Yang, Huan, 2024. "From rural to urban: Clan, urbanization and trust," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    23. Alberto Alesina & Benedetta Brioschi & Eliana La Ferrara, 2021. "Violence Against Women: A Cross‐cultural Analysis for Africa," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 70-104, January.
    24. Philip Roessler & Yannick I Pengi & Robert Marty & Kyle Sorlie Titlow & Nicolas Van de Walle, 2020. "The Cash Crop Revolution, Colonialism and Legacies of Spatial Inequality: Evidence from Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2020-12, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

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