Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.?

Diego Comin (), William Easterly () and Erick Gong

No 12657, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 1000 B.C., 0 A.D., and 1500 A.D. for the predecessors to today's nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today's national development outcomes. Although our strongest results are for 1500 A.D., we find that even technology as old as 1000 BC matters in some plausible specifications.

JEL-codes: N7 O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-dev, nep-his and nep-pke
Date: 2006-10
Note: EFG PR DAE
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Working Paper: Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.? (2008)
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