Legal Origin and Economic Growth

'How Does Colonial Origin Matter for Economic Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa'

“…In other words,the indirect influence of colonial educational policies matters more than the direct influence.The lack of statistical significance on the independence education variable (SEC_IND) suggests that the initial education conditions of SSA countries at independence cannot be held in explaining growth differences amongst former SSA colonies during 1960-2000. This result contradicts the findings of previous studies, notably, the works of Klerman et al (2008), Stacescu (2006, 2008), Bertocchi andCanova (2002), andGrier (1999) where the independence education conditions are found to be the main determinants of the postcolonial growth path.…”

“…In addition, Klerman et al(2008) show that colonial origin does not matter after geographical factors are controlled for, which lends support to the initial endowments hypothesis 2 that differences in the initial conditions of pre-colonization rather than in colonial policy (legal, educational, or other) are the best explanation for different growth rates amongst former colonies. However, Klerman et al's(2008) results, as they themselves admit, are inconclusive, due to their high sensitivity to regional considerations and to the choice of sample considered.…”

“…Section 2 provides a brief historical overview of the likely mechanisms of transmission at work between colonial origins and growth, while Section 3 presents the methodology of the study. Section 4 discusses the key findings and checks for their robustness and also compares my results to those in the literature, notably by Klerman et al (2008), Rostowski and Stacescu (2006;2008), Bertocchi and Canova (2002), and Grier (1999), while Section 5 concludes.…”

“…Like Klerman et al (2008), Rostowski and Stacescu(2006;2008) also find that colonial origin matters more than legal origin and education is the likely channel through which colonial origin affects growth. In the context of this study, the main problem with the Rostowski and Stacescu papers, as with the Klerman et al paper, is that they do not probe into the different mechanisms through which colonial origin affects growth and their analyses are limited to the initial conditions at independence.…”

“…For instance, Klerman et al(2008)results, using a sample of 49 former colonies around the world during , found that differences in educational policies is the main reason why former British colonies have grown faster than former French colonies. In addition, Klerman et al(2008) show that colonial origin does not matter after geographical factors are controlled for, which lends support to the initial endowments hypothesis 2 that differences in the initial conditions of pre-colonization rather than in colonial policy (legal, educational, or other) are the best explanation for different growth rates amongst former colonies.…”