The Importance of History for Economic Development

Nathan Nunn

Annual Review of Economics, 2009, vol. 1, issue 1, 65-92

Abstract: This article provides a survey of a growing body of empirical evidence that points toward the important long-term effects that historic events can have on economic development. The most recent studies, using microlevel data and more sophisticated identification techniques, have moved beyond testing whether history matters and attempt to identify exactly why history matters. The most commonly examined channels include institutions, culture, knowledge and technology, and movements between multiple equilibria. The article concludes with a discussion of the questions that remain and the direction of current research in the literature.

Keywords: path dependence; colonialism; institutions; norms; culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D02 N01 O30 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (364)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.economics.050708.143336 (application/pdf)
Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Importance of History for Economic Development (2009)
Working Paper: The Importance of History for Economic Development (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:anr:reveco:v:1:y:2009:p:65-92

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.annualreviews.org/action/ecommerce

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Annual Review of Economics from Annual Reviews Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by http://www.annualreviews.org ().