IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/7745.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Growth, History, or Institutions? What Explains State Fragility in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Bertocchi, Graziella
  • Guerzoni, Andrea

Abstract

We explore the determinants of state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa. Controlling for a wide range of economic, demographic, geographic and institutional regressors, we find that institutions, and in particular the civil liberties index and the number of revolutions, are the main determinants of fragility, even taking into account their potential endogeneity. Economic factors such as income growth and investment display a non robust impact after controlling for omitted variables and reverse causality. Colonial variables reflecting the history of the region display a marginal impact on fragility once institutions are accounted for.

Suggested Citation

  • Bertocchi, Graziella & Guerzoni, Andrea, 2010. "Growth, History, or Institutions? What Explains State Fragility in Sub-Saharan Africa," CEPR Discussion Papers 7745, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7745
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP7745
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nathan Nunn, 2008. "The Long-term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 139-176.
    2. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2010. "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 1-34, January.
    3. Sachs, Jeffrey D & Warner, Andrew M, 1997. "Sources of Slow Growth in African Economies," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 6(3), pages 335-376, October.
    4. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    5. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    6. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    7. Vallings, Claire & Moreno-Torres, Magui, 2005. "Drivers Of Fragility: What Makes States Fragile?," PRDE Working Papers 12824, Department for International Development (DFID) (UK).
    8. David Dollar & Craig Burnside, 2000. "Aid, Policies, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 847-868, September.
    9. Daron Acemoglu, 2010. "Institutions, Factor Prices, and Taxation: Virtues of Strong States?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 115-119, May.
    10. Bertocchi, Graziella & Canova, Fabio, 2002. "Did colonization matter for growth?: An empirical exploration into the historical causes of Africa's underdevelopment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1851-1871, December.
    11. Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Henrik Hansen & Finn Tarp, 2004. "On The Empirics of Foreign Aid and Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(496), pages 191-216, June.
    12. Graziella Bertocchi & Andrea Guerzoni, 2011. "The Fragile Defi nition of State Fragility," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 339-356.
    13. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    14. Hansen, Henrik & Tarp, Finn, 2001. "Aid and growth regressions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 547-570, April.
    15. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    16. Sambit Bhattacharyya, 2009. "Root Causes of African Underdevelopment," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(5), pages 745-780, November.
    17. Bockstette, Valerie & Chanda, Areendam & Putterman, Louis, 2002. "States and Markets: The Advantage of an Early Start," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 347-369, December.
    18. Nicola Gennaioli & Ilia Rainer, 2007. "The modern impact of precolonial centralization in Africa," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 185-234, September.
    19. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina, 2009. "Institutions, trade, and social cohesion in fragile states: Implications for policy conditionality and aid allocation," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 877-890, November.
    20. Isham, Jonathan & Kaufmann, Daniel & Pritchett, Lant H, 1997. "Civil Liberties, Democracy, and the Performance of Government Projects," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 11(2), pages 219-242, May.
    21. David Carment & Stewart Prest & Yiagadeesen Samy, 2008. "Determinants of State Fragility and Implications for Aid Allocation: An Assessment Based on the Country Indicators for Foreign Policy Project," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-46, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    22. Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2009. "Understanding the African Growth Record: The Importance of Policy Syndromes and Governance," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2009-02, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    23. Mark McGillivray & Simon Feeny, 2008. "Aid and Growth in Fragile States," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-03, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adedeji Adeniran & Mma Amara Ekeruche & Chimere O. Iheonu, 2022. "The Quality Of Budgetary Institutions In Africa: Exploring The Drivers," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 67(232), pages 127-152, January –.
    2. Bertocchi, Graziella, 2011. "Growth, Colonization, and Institutional Development: In and Out of Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 5856, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2017. "The African origins of Euro-American development: Pins on an empirical roadmap," MPRA Paper 79925, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Faith Osasumwen Olanrewaju & Adekunle Olanrewaju & Femi Omotoso & Joshua Olaniyi Alabi & Emmanuel Amoo & Ejiroghene Loromeke & Lady Adaina Ajayi, 2019. "Insurgency and the Invisible Displaced Population in Nigeria: A Situational Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, April.
    5. Yapatake Kossele Thales Pacific, 2020. "Fragility of State in Central African Republic: An Econometric Approach to Efficiency Understanding," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(3), pages 681-697, June.
    6. Pacific K. T. Yapatake, 2018. "Fragility of State in Central African Republic: An Econometric Approach to Efficiency Understanding," CEREDEC Working Papers 18/002, Centre de Recherche pour le Développement Economique (CEREDEC).
    7. Fenske, James, 2010. "Institutions in African history and development: A review essay," MPRA Paper 23120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Cervellati, Matteo & Jung, Florian & Sunde, Uwe & Vischer, Thomas, 2012. "Income, Democracy, and Critical Junctures," IZA Discussion Papers 7069, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Guillaumont, Patrick & McGillivray, Mark & Wagner, Laurent, 2017. "Performance Assessment, Vulnerability, Human Capital, and the Allocation of Aid Among Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 17-26.
    10. Antonio Ribba, 2014. "Sources of unemployment fluctuations in the USA and in the Euro Area in the last decade," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 681-694.
    11. Francisco Gutiérrez Sanín & Diana Buitrago & Andrea González, 2013. "Aggregating Political Dimensions: Of the Feasibility of Political Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 305-326, January.
    12. Simon Feeny & Alberto Posso & Jonathan Regan-Beasley, 2015. "Handle with care: fragile states and the determinants of fragility," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(11), pages 1073-1085, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bertocchi, Graziella, 2011. "Growth, Colonization, and Institutional Development: In and Out of Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 5856, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Fenske, James, 2010. "Institutions in African history and development: A review essay," MPRA Paper 23120, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Asongu Simplice, 2016. "State fragility, rent seeking and lobbying: evidence from African data," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1016-1030, October.
    4. Carmignani, Fabrizio & Mandeville, Thomas, 2014. "Never been industrialized: A tale of African structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 124-137.
    5. Matthias Cinyabuguma & Louis Putterman, 2006. "Sub-Saharan Growth Surprises: Geography, Institutions And History in an all African Data Panel," Working Papers 2006-21, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    6. Graziella Bertocchi, 2016. "The legacies of slavery in and out of Africa," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2011. "Pillars of Prosperity: The Political Economics of Development Clusters," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9624.
    8. Dae Hyung Woo & Jin Seo Cho, 2023. "An Empirical Analysis of Current Economic Growth in Relation to Precolonial and Colonial Legacies," Working papers 2023rwp-218, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    9. Fabrizio Carmignani & Abdur Chowdhury, 2011. "The Development Effects Of Natural Resources: A Geographical Dimension," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp1022, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    10. Graziella Bertocchi, 2016. "The Legacies of Slavery in and out of Africa," Department of Economics 0096, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    11. Chuku Chuku & Onye Kenneth, 2019. "Working Paper 307 - The Macroeconomics of State Fragility in Africa," Working Paper Series 2433, African Development Bank.
    12. Broich, Tobias & Szirmai, Adam & Thomsson, Kaj, 2015. "Precolonial centralisation, foreign aid and modern state capacity in Africa," MERIT Working Papers 2015-025, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    13. Bournakis, Ioannis & Rizov, Marian & Christopoulos, Dimitris, 2021. "Revisiting the Economic Performance and Institutions Debate in SSA Countries: The Role of Legal Origins in the Context of Ethnic Heterogeneity," MPRA Paper 106557, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Kourtellos, Andros & Tan, Chih Ming & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2007. "Is the relationship between aid and economic growth nonlinear?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 515-540, September.
    15. James Fenske, 2014. "Ecology, Trade, And States In Pre-Colonial Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 612-640, 06.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    State fragility; Africa; Institutions; Colonial history;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7745. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.