This paper seeks to empirically verify if the habit persistence phenomenon holds in the Jamaican economy. The results of the GMM time series estimation show the existence of habit formation by Jamaican consumers. Past consumption habits affect the growth rate of consumption, consequently in...

Since trade was not an engine, neither was a part of trade, such as the trade in slaves. And certainly the profits from the trade did not finance the Industrial Revolution. Imperialism, too, was a mere part of trade, and despite the well-deserved guilt that Europeans feel in having perpetrated...

This article assesses the US discussion on the material roots of racism in which writers such as Malcolm X have been heavily criticised by ‘marxists’ for substituting race for class in the analysis of society. The article argues that such criticism departs from the classical Marxist...

The ``land abundance'' view of African history uses sparse population to explain economic institutions. I provide supporting evidence from the Egba of Nigeria. I use early colonial court records to show that Egba institutions fit the theory's predictions. Before 1914, the Egba had poorly defined...

The difficulties to obtain regular and trustworthy data series, which describe the set of demographic characteristics we could consider standard (number of existing persons, births and deaths, distributed by age, sex and social condition, within a certain geographic area) are notorious. Lacking...