DOES LAND ABUNDANCE EXPLAIN AFRICAN INSTITUTIONS?

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Fenske, James
• 署名单位: University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12034
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 1363-1390
• 关键词: common property; global population; factor endowments; west-africa; slave-trade; IMPACT; LABOR; origins; TENURE; equilibrium

摘要

The land abundance view of African history uses sparse population to explain pre-colonial land tenure and slavery. I document the geographical forcing variables that predict land rights, slavery and population density in a cross section of global societies. I discuss whether these correlations support theories of land rights and slavery, including the land abundance view. I show that pre-colonial institutions predict institutional outcomes in Africa in the present, including land transactions, polygamy and public goods. Pre-colonial institutions have effects above those of geography. The colonial reversal of fortune did not erase their influence.