Replication data for: The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation: Comment

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) David Y. Albouy

Version:  View help for Version V1

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  AER20041216_data 10/11/2019 06:00:PM
LICENSE.txt text/plain 14.6 KB 10/11/2019 02:00:PM

Project Citation: 

Albouy, David Y. Replication data for: The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation: Comment. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2012. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/E112563V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson's (2001) seminal article argues property-rights institutions powerfully affect national income, using estimated mortality rates of early European settlers to instrument capital expropriation risk. However, 36 of the 64 countries in the sample are assigned mortality rates from other countries, often based on mistaken or conflicting evidence. Also, incomparable mortality rates from populations of laborers, bishops, and soldiers—often on campaign—are combined in a manner that favors the hypothesis. When these data issues are controlled for, the relationship between mortality and expropriation risk lacks robustness, and instrumental-variable estimates become unreliable, often with infinite confidence intervals. (JEL D02, E23, F54, I12, N40, O43, P14)

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D02 Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
      E23 Macroeconomics: Production
      F54 Colonialism; Imperialism; Postcolonialism
      I12 Health Behavior
      N40 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: General, International, or Comparative
      O43 Institutions and Growth
      P14 Capitalist Systems: Property Rights


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