Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution

Acemoğlu, Daron; Johnson, Simon; Robinson, James A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.290824

Cited by 1,089 publications

(1,844 citation statements)

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“…In addition, there are numerous examples of historical events and phenomena with long-run impacts on economic development. For example: Colonization (e.g., Acemoglu et al 2001Acemoglu et al , 2002; the Slave…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does medieval trade still matter? Historical trade centers, agglomeration and contemporary economic development

Wahl

2016

Regional Science and Urban Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThis study empirically establishes a link between medieval trade, agglomeration and contemporary regional development in ten European countries. It documents a statistically and economically significant positive relationship between prominent involvement in medieval trade and commercial activities and regional economic development today. Further empirical analyses show that medieval trade positively influenced city development both during the medieval period and in the long run; they also reveal a robust connection between medieval city growth and contemporary regional agglomeration and industry concentration. A mediation analysis indicates that a long-lasting effect of medieval trade on contemporary regional development is indeed transmitted via its effect on agglomeration and industry concentration. This research thus highlights the long-run importance of medieval trade in shaping the development of cities as well as the contemporary spatial distribution of economic activity throughout Europe. The path-dependent regional development processes caused by medieval commercial activities help explain the observed persistent regional development differences across the European countries considered.

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Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does medieval trade still matter? Historical trade centers, agglomeration and contemporary economic development

Wahl

2016

Regional Science and Urban Economics

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“…Does education help raise the quality of institutions as well as productivity, or is an efficient institutional framework a prerequisite for expanding education levels and economic growth? The issue of the direction of causality between education and democracy has ignited a debate between the advocates of institutions as the prime engine of growth (Acemoglu et al, 2001(Acemoglu et al, , 2002, and the proponents of a different thesis, who view human capital as the root cause of economic development (Glaeser et al, 2004, Glaeser and Campante, 2009. Sorting out the respective effects of democracy and education upon each other would shed some light on this broader debate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Democratic Transition

Murtin¹,

Wacziarg²

2011

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Over the last two centuries, many countries experienced regime transitions toward democracy. We document this democratic transition over a long time horizon. We use historical time series of income, education and democracy levels from 1870 to 2000 to explore the economic factors associated with rising levels of democracy. We find that primary schooling, and to a weaker extent per capita income levels, are strong determinants of the quality of political institutions. We find little evidence of causality running the other way, from democracy to income or education.

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confidence: 99%

The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa

Michalopoulos

Papaioannou

2016

American Economic Review

317

181

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The predominant explanations on the deep roots of contemporary African development are centered around the influence of Europeans during the colonial period (Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2001Robinson , 2002Robinson , 2005, but also in the centuries before colonization when close to 20 million slaves were exported from Africa (Nunn 2008). Yet in the period between the ending of the slave trades and the beginning of the colonial rule, another major event took place that, according to the African historiography, had malicious long-lasting consequences. During the "Scramble for Africa," that starts with the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 and is completed by the turn of the twentieth century, Europeans partitioned Africa into spheres of influence, protectorates, and colonies. The borders were designed in European capitals at a time when Europeans had barely settled in Africa and had limited knowledge of local conditions. Despite their arbitrariness, boundaries outlived the colonial era.

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Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution

Cited by 1,089 publications

References 64 publications

Does medieval trade still matter? Historical trade centers, agglomeration and contemporary economic development

Does medieval trade still matter? Historical trade centers, agglomeration and contemporary economic development

The Democratic Transition

The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa

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