Inequality in Land Ownership, the Emergence of Human Capital Promoting Institutions and the Great Divergence

Oded Galor (), Omer Moav () and Dietrich Vollrath

No 6751, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper suggests that inequality in the distribution of land ownership adversely affected the emergence of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling) and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the great divergence in income per capita across countries. The prediction of the theory regarding the adverse effect of the concentration of land ownership on education expenditure is established empirically based on evidence from the beginning of the 20th century in the US.

Keywords: Geography; Great Divergence; Growth; Human capital; Institutions; Land Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-his and nep-hrm
Date: 2008-03
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Related works:
Working Paper: Inequality in Land Ownership, the Emergence of Human Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence (2006)
Journal Article: Inequality in Landownership, the Emergence of Human-Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence (2009)
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