Showing 1 - 10 of 479
displaced state authorities and promoted the creation of self-governing institutions that embodied local values and openly … state. Our results suggest that community institutions in guerrilla-controlled areas led to enduring land fragmentation and … disengagement with the government. We argue that when non-state actors develop alternative governance institutions, they can lead to …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013388844
Two centuries ago, in most countries around the world, women were unable to vote, had no say over their own children or property, and could not obtain a divorce. Women have gradually gained rights in many areas of life, and this legal expansion has been closely intertwined with economic...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013462666
This paper assesses the role of ideas in economic change, combining economic and historical analysis with insights from psychology, sociology and anthropology. Belief systems shape the system of categories ("pre-confirmatory bias") and perceptions (confirmatory bias), and are themselves...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012462860
differences through the dynamics of saving and investment. We posit that the drivers of economic development include institutions …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012459151
In this paper we revisit the relationship between institutions, human capital and development. We argue that empirical … models that treat institutions and human capital as exogenous are misspecified both because of the usual omitted variable … focus on historically-determined differences in human capital and control for the effect of institutions, the impact of …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012458732
We exploit differences in the mortality rates faced by European colonialists to estimate the effect of institutions on … different associated institutions. The choice of colonization strategy was, at least in part, determined by whether Europeans … likely to set up worse (extractive) institutions. These early institutions persisted to the present. We document evidence …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012470979
We study the evolution of belief systems that suppress productive effort. These include concerns about the envy of others, beliefs in the importance of luck for success, disdain for competitive effort, and traditional beliefs in witchcraft. We show that such demotivating beliefs can evolve when...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014372420
Within the field of economics, despite being widespread, African traditional religions tend to be perceived as unimportant and ignored when studying economic decision-making. This study tests whether this presumption is correct. Using daily data on business decisions and performance of beer...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014322817
transportation improvements converged to create city growth. We assess the impact of institutions on growth by allowing two ways for … institutions to affect growth. Institutions can directly affect growth, or it can impact on trade, which in turn affects growth …. Once we separately quantify the link from institutions to trade, and trade to growth, the independent effect of …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012459845
Although institutions are believed to be key determinants of economic performance, there is limited evidence on how … variation in the presence of institutions; the difficulty of empirically measuring institutional performance; and the temptation … the complex and multi-faceted subject. We evaluate one attempt to make local institutions more egalitarian by imposing …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012461646