A large economics literature has shown long term impacts of birth weight on adult outcomes, including IQ and earnings that are often robust to sibling or twin fixed effects. We examine potential mechanisms underlying these effects by incorporating findings from the genetics and neuroscience...

We revisit the idea that colonized countries that were more (less) economically advanced in 1500 became poorer (richer, respectively) by the late 20th century. Using data on place of origin of today's country populations and the urbanization and population density measures used by Acemoglu et...

Using data on place of origin of today's country populations and the indicators of level of development in 1500 used by Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2002), we confirm a reversal of fortune for colonized countries as territories, but find persistence of fortune for people and their...

We revisit the idea that colonized countries that were more (less) economically advanced in 1500 became poorer (richer, respectively) by the late 20th century. Using data on place of origin of today’s country populations and the urbanization and population density measures used by Acemoglu et...

A large literature links early environments and later outcomes, such as cognition; however, little is known about the mechanisms. One potential mechanism is sensitivity to early environments that is moderated or amplified by the genotype. With this mechanism in mind, a complementary literature...

Although there is a vast literature linking education and later health outcomes, the mechanisms underlying these associations are relatively unknown. In the spirit of some medical literature that leverages developmental abnormalities to understand mechanisms of normative functioning, we explore...

This paper explores the role of two important food sources, potatoes and milk, in explaining the large population growth experienced throughout the Old World in the 18th and 19th centuries. Nunn and Qian (2011) show that the introduction of the potato from the New World has a significant...

We revisit the idea that colonized countries that were more (less) economically advanced in 1500 became poorer (richer, respectively) by the late 20th century. Using data on place of origin of today's country populations and the urbanization and population density measures used by Acemoglu et...