Did Africa’s First Choices Matter? Growth Legacies of Leaders at Independence

Christina Mangaard Jørgensen and Christian Bjørnskov

No 16-049, Working Papers CEB from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: We explore the potential effects of the first leaders of Sub-Saharan Africa. We first outline a set of theoretical reasons for why leaders may matter particularly at the critical juncture of African independence and why this influence may be persistent. In an unbalanced panel from 40 African countries observed since independence, we find evidence of strongly persistent effects of the education of African leaders. Only military coups seem able to break the persistent negative influence of this characteristic.

Keywords: Africa; leaders; institutions; development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O11 O43 O55 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 p.
Date: 2016-11-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr
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Working Paper: Did Africa’s First Choices Matter? Growth Legacies of Leaders at Independence (2015)
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