Does Land Abundance Explain African Institutions?

Fenske, James

doi:10.1111/ecoj.12034

Cited by 81 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…Baldwin (2013) shows that across Zambian regions there is a strong positive correlation between political centralization and the power of traditional leaders in administrating land. In line with this, Fenske (2013) presents cross-sectional estimates from the Standard Cross Cultural Sample that covers 186 ethnicities around the world showing that centralized groups are more likely to have a judiciary system, police, as well as a formal administrative bureaucracy.…”

Section: The Legacy Of Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 75%

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On the Ethnic Origins of African Development: Chiefs and Precolonial Political Centralization

Michalopoulos

Papaioannou

2015

AMP

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We report on recent findings of a fruitful research agenda that explores the importance of ethnic-specific traits in shaping African development. First, using recent surveys from Sub-Saharan African countries, we document that individuals identify with their ethnic group as often as with the nation pointing to the salience of ethnicity. Second, we focus on the various historical and contemporary functions of tribal leaders (chiefs) and illustrate their influence on various aspects of the economy and the polity. Third, we elaborate on a prominent dimension of ethnicity, that of the degree of complexity of pre-colonial political organization. Building on insights from the African historiography, we review recent works showing a strong association between pre-colonial centralization and contemporary comparative development both across and within countries. We also document that the link between pre-colonial political centralization and regional development -as captured by satellite images of light density at night-is particularly strong in areas outside the vicinity of the capitals, where due to population mixing and the salience of national institutions ethnic traits play a lesser role. Overall, our evidence is supportive to theories and narratives on the presence of a “dual” economic and institutional environment in Africa.

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Section: The Legacy Of Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“… 16 Fenske (2013) provides empirical evidence supportive to the “land abundance” view of African political institutions. Yet Osafo-Kwaako and Robinson (2013) show that the correlation between population density (or agricultural intensity) and political centralization in Africa is weak, while in Eurasia and the Americas the correlation is strong.…”

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confidence: 86%

On the Ethnic Origins of African Development: Chiefs and Precolonial Political Centralization

Michalopoulos

Papaioannou

2015

AMP

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“…This is not surprising as according to the African historiography (e.g. Stevenson (1968), Fenske (2009)) there is a strong interplay between geography, population density, and political complexity. 11 The size of the coefficient in column (3) - Table 3 A implies that a one-standard-deviation increase in the jurisdictional hierarchy index (which corresponds to approximately one-unit increase; see Appendix Table 2) is associated with a 0.12 standard-deviation increase in luminosity.…”

Section: Ethnic Homeland Analysismentioning

confidence: 95%

Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development

2013

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We investigate the role of deeply-rooted pre-colonial ethnic institutions in shaping comparative regional development within African countries. We combine information on the spatial distribution of ethnicities before colonization with regional variation in contemporary economic performance, as proxied by satellite images of light density at night. We document a strong association between pre-colonial ethnic political centralization and regional development. This pattern is not driven by differences in local geographic features or by other observable ethnic-specific cultural and economic variables. The strong positive association between pre-colonial political complexity and contemporary development obtains also within pairs of adjacent ethnic homelands with different legacies of pre-colonial political institutions.

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“…This sample has been created for Fenske (). Details on these are given in the web appendix for that paper.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ecology, Trade, and States in Pre-Colonial Africa

Fenske

2014

Journal of the European Economic Association

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111

121

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State capacity matters for growth. I test Bates' explanation of pre-colonial African states. He argues that trade across ecological boundaries promoted states. I find that African societies in ecologically diverse environments had more centralized states. This is robust to reverse causation, omitted heterogeneity, and alternative interpretations of the link between diversity and states. The result survives including non-African societies. I test mechanisms connecting trade to states, and find that trade supported class stratification between rulers and ruled. I underscore the importance of ethnic institutions and inform our knowledge of the effects of trade on institutions. (JEL: N57, O10)

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Does Land Abundance Explain African Institutions?

Cited by 81 publications

References 101 publications

On the Ethnic Origins of African Development: Chiefs and Precolonial Political Centralization

On the Ethnic Origins of African Development: Chiefs and Precolonial Political Centralization

Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development

Ecology, Trade, and States in Pre-Colonial Africa

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