This article examines the role of cognitive ability or intelligence on slave expor ts from Africa. We test a hypothesis that countries which were endowed with higher levels of cognitive ability were more likely to experience lower levels of slave exports from Africa probably due to comparatively...

This study explores the relationship between social media and democracy in a cross- section of over 125 countries around the world. We find the evidence of a strong, positive correlation between Facebook penetration (a proxy for social media) and democracy. We further show that the correlation...

The paper extends Breggren et al. (2008, EE) on "trust and growth: a shaky relationship" by incorporating recent developments in the trust-growth literature and using a robust methodological underpinning that accounts for the presence of outliers. The empirical evidence is based on 63 countries....

One of the most disturbing contemporary episodes in human history that has been decried globally is the recent Libyan experience of slave trade, where migrants captured end-up being sold as slaves. We contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon by investigating the role of cognitive human...

Using data from the DRC Demographic and Health Survey, this study examines the empirical linkages between access to agricultural land and nutritional outcomes by examining gender differences. Results suggest significant effects of access to agricultural land on nutritional outcomes in the full...

This paper uses a pooled dataset of the 2007 and 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to establish the empirical linkages between infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices and children's nutritional status in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The paper examines all the recommended...

This paper mainly examines the effect of financial development on the recession, while controlling for potential recession factors. Using panel data of 129 countries spanning 1990-2010, we implemented “Locally Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing”, “Local Linear” and “Iteratively Reweighted...

We assess the correlations between tribalism and financial development in 60 countries using data averages from 2000-2010. The tribalism index is used to measure tribalism whereas financial development is measured from perspectives of financial intermediary and stock market developments. The...

The paper argues that Thailand's economic and social development from the late 19th century to the early 21st century presents a puzzle. For much of the period from 1870 to 1940, the country's economic growth was slow, and the economy remained agricultural, with little diversification into...

Using cross-country differences in the degree of isolation before the advent of technologies in sea and air transportation, we assess the relationship between geographic isolation and financial development across the globe. We find that pre-historic geographical isolation has been beneficial to...