ECOLOGY, TRADE, AND STATES IN PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fenske, James
• 署名单位: University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1111/jeea.12042
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 612-640
• 关键词: CONFLICT; GROWTH; institutions; variables; capacity; origins; shocks; curse; wave

摘要

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.