Persistence of fortune: Accounting for Population Movements, There was no Post-Columbian Reversal

Areendam Chanda, Justin Cook () and Louis Putterman

No 2013-4, Working Papers from Brown University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We revisit the idea that colonized countries that were more (less) economically advanced in 1500 became poorer (richer, respectively) by the late 20th century. Using data on place of origin of today's country populations and the urbanization and population density measures used by Acemoglu et al. (2002) as indicators of level of development in 1500, we confirm a reversal of fortune for territories but find persistence of fortune and their descendants. The results are equally strong or stronger for three alternative measures of early development, namely years since transition to agriculture, state history, and the Comin et al (2010) year 1500 technology index. They are also robust to changing end years, to inclusion of non-colonized countries or exclusion of "neo-Europes" and city states, and to the addition of various controls.

Keywords: Long-Run Economic Growth; Comparative Development; Colonized Countries; Early Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Related works:
Journal Article: Persistence of Fortune: Accounting for Population Movements, There Was No Post-Columbian Reversal (2014)
Working Paper: Persistence of Fortune: Accounting for Population Movements, There was No Post-Columbian Reversal (2013)
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