Finding Eldorado: Slavery and Long-Run Development in Colombia

Acemoğlu, Daron; García-Jimeno, Camilo; Robinson, James A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2084357

Cited by 27 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In this Section, we go even deeper and, rather than comparing municipalities with different sulphur endowments within a given department, we follow Acemoglu et al . () and exploit variations in sulphur endowments across direct neighbours.…”

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in Acemoglu et al . (), we implement the neighbour‐pair fixed effects estimator, very similar to a matching methodology and to a regression discontinuity design, comparing each sulphur‐mining municipality to each of its direct neighbours without sulphur. Figure visually presents municipalities with sulphur mines and their neighbours.…”

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, following Acemoglu et al . (), we perform additional tests of our hypothesis based on the comparison of pairs of neighbouring municipalities with different sulphur endowment…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Acemoglu et al . () employ this strategy to estimate the effect of gold‐mines‐related slavery in Colombia. One advantage of our application is that we do not have to worry about the endogeneity of slavery, since we are directly interested in the effect of natural resources. …”

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confidence: 99%

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Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse in the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia

Buonanno

Durante

Prarolo

et al. 2015

The Economic Journal

139

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With weak law-enforcement institutions, a positive shock to the value of natural resources may increase demand for private protection and opportunities for rent appropriation through extortion, favoring the emergence of mafia-type organizations. We test this hypothesis by investigating the emergence of the mafia in XIX century Sicily, where a severe lack of state property-right enforcement coincided with a steep rise in international demand for sulfur, Sicily's most valuable export commodity. Using historical data on the early incidence of mafia activity and on the distribution of sulfur reserves, we document that the mafia was more present in municipalities with greater sulfur availability.

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Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, following Acemoglu et al . (), we perform additional tests of our hypothesis based on the comparison of pairs of neighbouring municipalities with different sulphur endowment…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse in the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia

Buonanno

Durante

Prarolo

et al. 2015

The Economic Journal

139

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“…4 Most of these departments have had gold mines since the colonial period. According to Acemoglu et al (2012), the resulting extractive institutions have significantly affected their long-run economic growth. These regions have traditionally combined underground mining in the mountains and alluvial mining in the river beds.…”

Section: Gold Mining In Colombiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Illegal Mining and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from the Colombian Gold Rush

Bonilla‐Mejía¹

2019

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This paper assesses the local effects of gold mining on human capital accumulation in contexts where illegal mining is prevalent. Evidence is based on high-resolution geographic information of gold mining and schools, and rich administrative data from Colombia. I exploit a boom in international gold prices and the exogenous geographic distribution of gold deposits to assess the causal effects of mining. Results indicate that mining increases enrollment in primary school and reduces dropout rates throughout the school cycle. However, mining also reduces standardized test scores and college enrollment, particularly in academic degrees and STEM fields. The estimated effects are considerably larger when both legal and illegal mining are accounted for. I then assess some of the potential mechanisms through which the commodity price shock can affect human capital. While child labor is overall unaffected, young adults between 19 and 25 are more likely to work in the mining sector. Evidence also indicates that mining increases royalties and public investment, with mixed results in terms of school inputs. Mining also intensifies conflict and violence, with potential large negative effects on human capital accumulation.Las opiniones contenidas en el presente documento son responsabilidad exclusiva del autor y no comprometen al Banco de la República ni a su Junta Directiva. ResumenEste trabajo estudia el efecto local de la minería de oro sobre la acumulación de capital humano en contextos en los cuales predomina la minería ilegal. La evidencia está basada en información geográfica de alta resolución de minería y registros administrativos detallados del sistema educativo de Colombia. Para estimar los efectos causales de la minería se explota la variación exógena en los precios internacionales del oro y la distribución geográfica de los depósitos de mineral. Los resultados indican que la minería incrementa la matrícula escolar en primaria y reduce la deserción a lo largo del ciclo escolar. Sin embargo, la minería también tiene efectos negativos sobre el aprendizaje y reduce las probabilidades de acceder al sistema de educación superior, particularmente en carreras STEM. Los efectos estimados son considerablemente más grandes cuando se tiene en cuenta tanto la minería legal como la ilegal. En laúltima sección se prueban distintos mecanismos a través de los cuales el boom minero puede afectar la acumulación de capital humano. Mientras que no hay evidencia de mayor trabajo infantil, los adultos jóvenes entre 19 y 25 años tienen mayores probabilidades de trabajar en el sector minero. La evidencia también muestra que las regalías y la inversión pública aumentaron en los municipios mineros, con resultados mixtos para la provisión de educación escolar. Finalmente, el boom de precios intensifica el conflicto y la violencia en estas regiones, con efectos negativos potencialmente importantes sobre la acumulación de capital humano.Palabras clave: Maldición de recursos naturales, minería, capital humano, Colombia Clasificación JEL: Q32, ...

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