INFRASTRUCTURAL v. SUPERSTRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONS ON INCOME DETERMINATION ACROSS U.S. NATIVE AMERICAN ECONOMIES

Voxi Heinrich S Amavilah ()

Development and Comp Systems from EconWPA

Abstract: Institutions either promote or constrain economic performance, but which part of institutions does so, and why do economies sharing similar institutions sometimes perform differently? This paper applies a novel model that is capable of separating infrastructural and superstructural effects of institutions on aggregate and average income using a cross- section of 84 U.S. Native American economies (USNAEs). It finds that aggregate and average incomes for these economies depend mainly on the accumulation of physical resources. However, resources and resource productivity are necessary but insufficient determinants of income for institutional reasons. Infrastructures that aid human capital formation are inadequate so that even when the local superstructure is generally accepting of external technology, the impact of human capital on income (performance) remains modest. It appears that infrastructural and superstructural aspects of institutions are competitive rather than complementary, thereby weakening the Nelson-Phelps channel for transmitting external technology into USNAEs.

Keywords: infrastructural and superstructural constraints; institutions; human capital; U.S. Native American economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O15 O57 R30 D24 C31 P47 O51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo
Date: 2005-05-04
Note: Type of Document - wpd; pages: 34. An updated edition of an early version. Figures available upon request
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0505004

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