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Institutions Don't Rule: Direct Effects of Geography on Per Capita Income
Open accessAbstract
In a series of papers, my colleagues and I have demonstrated that levels of per capita income, economic growth, and other economic and demographic dimensions are strongly correlated with geographical and ecological variables such as climate zone, disease ecology, and distance from the coast.Three recent papers purport to show that the role of geography in explaining cross-country patterns of income per capita operates predominantly or exclusively through the choice of institutions, with little direct effect of geography on income after controlling for the quality institutions.This note shows that malaria transmission, which is strongly affected by ecological conditions, directly affects the level of per capita income after controlling for the quality of institutions.
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Cites
The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., & Robinson, J. A. (2001) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.91.5.1369 · Cited by 8,517
Cited by
Rodrik, D., Subramanian, A., & Trebbi, F. (2004) · Journal of Economic Growth · doi:10.1023/b:joeg.0000031425.72248.85 · Cited by 5,423
What Do We Learn from the Weather? The New Climate-Economy Literature
Dell, M., Jones, B. F., & Olken, B. A. (2014) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.52.3.740 · Cited by 2,300
Algan, Y., & Cahuc, P. (2010) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.100.5.2060 · Cited by 1,286
The Effect of Financial Development on Convergence: Theory and Evidence*
Aghion, P., Howitt, P., & Mayer-Foulkes, D. (2005) · Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/qjec.2005.120.1.173 · Cited by 962
Cursing the Blessings? Natural Resource Abundance, Institutions, and Economic Growth
Brunnschweiler, C. N. (2008) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2007.03.004 · Cited by 710
Metadata
- Authors
- Sachs, J.
- Venue
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Publisher
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Published
- 2003-02
- OpenAlex
- W2105278501
- Cited by
- 774
- References
- 1
- Type
- report
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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