Growth regressions are often influenced by extreme observations in the sample. We demonstrate the usefulness of a simple Monte Carlo method as a diagnostic for sample robustness. We apply the technique to a data set used by Mehlum et al. (2006), who show that institutional quality is decisive...

This paper reports on my replication of the 1997 Sachs and Warner resource curse working paper. Exact pure replication is achieved. A test for statistical replication shows that some of the Sachs and Warner results attempting to determine the cause of the resource curse are not robust to the...

The most cited paper ever published by the Journal of African Economies is Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner’s "Sources of Slow Growth in African Economies." The paper advises that despite decades of slow growth in Africa there should be considerable optimism regarding Africa's future; if it...