Using cross-country data for about 70 countries and regional data for about 180 African provinces, we show that competition between Protestant and Catholic missionaries increased schooling in former colonies. Our evidence implies that Protestant missionaries increased schooling in Catholic...

Why does schooling attainment vary widely across countries? Why are differences in schooling attainment highly persistent? I show that cross-country differences in schooling are related to political institutions, such as democracy and local democracy (political decentralization), which are...

Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. We argue that this variation can be explained by differences in institutions which in turn have their roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country,...