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 …

opportunities depends on the nature of institutions. When institutions are strong, new opportunities or windfalls can have positive … effects. But when institutions are weak they can have negative effects. We present a simple model to illustrate how … comparative statics are conditional on the nature of institutions and show how this perspective helps to unify a large number of …

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 …

the central role of political and economic institutions, as well as the endogenous evolution of technology, in shaping the … context of economic and political institutions, and also that the focus on the share of top incomes can give a misleading …