Michalopoulos, Stelios and Papaioannou, Elias (2013) National institutions and subnational development in Africa. Working Paper. Coventry, UK: Department of Economics, University of Warwick. CAGE Online Working Paper Series, Volume 2013 (Number 154).

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Abstract

We investigate the role of national institutions on subnational African development in
a novel framework that accounts both for local geography and cultural-genetic traits. We
exploit the fact that the political boundaries in the eve of African independence partitioned
more than two hundred ethnic groups across adjacent countries subjecting similar
cultures, residing in homogeneous geographic areas, to different formal institutions. Using
both a matching-type and a spatial regression discontinuity approach we show that differences
in countrywide institutional structures across the national border do not explain
within-ethnicity differences in economic performance, as captured by satellite images of
light density. The average non-effect of national institutions on ethnic development masks
considerable heterogeneity partially driven by the diminishing role of national institutions
in areas further from the capital cities.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Alternative Title:
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DT Africa H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Economic development -- Africa, Ethnicity -- Africa
Series Name:	CAGE Online Working Paper Series
Publisher:	Department of Economics, University of Warwick
Place of Publication:	Coventry, UK
Official Date:	September 2013
Volume:	Volume 2013
Number:	Number 154
Number of Pages:	51
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published

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