The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 constituted a strong exogenous shock on economic activity that compounded that of the First World War. In this paper, we condition the economic importance of these shocks on the level of economic freedom measured by the HIEL project (Prados de la Escosura 2016)...

We offer evidence of the role of continental orientation in the historical diffusion of technologies. Diamond (1997) argued that technologies spread more slowly North-South (N-S) than East-West (E-W) for two reasons. First, it was relatively costly for individuals to transport innovations when...

Do immigrants undermine culture in a way that destroys productivity in destination countries? Some scholars have argued that because immigrants come from countries with dysfunctional social capital—norms and institutions— they will import it and pollute the social capital in destination...

This study examines the impacts of a sorghum-based ethanol plant established in a major cotton producing area on local sorghum basis and cotton acreage distribution using county-level panel data from 2002 to 2014. Spatial econometric models are employed to account for any spatial dependence. Our...

The negative correlation between growth outcomes and natural resource abundance is well-known. Researchers have proposed a number of channels - such as corruption, education, and conflict - through which resource rents may negatively affect growth in a society. We utilize a more nuanced approach...