The Reversal of Fortune Thesis Reconsidered

Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson (2002) have claimed that the world income distribution underwent a "Reversal of Fortune" from 1500 to the present, whereby formerly rich countries in what is now the developing world became poor while poor ones grew rich. We question their analysis with regard to both of their proxies for pre-modern income, namely urbanization and population density. First, an alternative measure of urbanization with more observations generates a positive (but not significant) correlation between pre-modern and contemporary income. Second, we show that their measure of population density as a proxy is highly flawed inasmuch as it does not properly measure density on arable land, and when corrected with better data the relationship is no longer robust. At best our results demonstrate a Reversal of Fortune only for the four neo-Europes of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States; at worst, we show no Reversal for other former colonies.income distribution, population density, Reversal of Fortune,urbanization.

Decentralization and development in contemporary Uganda

There has long been an emphasis on the importance of decentralization in providing better quality public services in the developing world. In order to assess the effectiveness of decentralization I examine here the case study of Uganda, which has seen major decentralization of power over the last quarter-century. In particular the current government has introduced a five-tiered local government structure, decentralized both fiscal and political power to local governments and introduced regular local government elections. However, initial excitement about Uganda's decentralization programme has tapered off in recent years due to a number of problems outlined here. In particular, I show that decentralization in Uganda has suffered from a lack of independence from central government control, which has led to a lack of effectiveness in the provision of high quality public goods

The EU referendum and legislation on ‘English votes for English laws’ will be crucial for Scotland’s future in the Union

The crucial factor in any future move towards Scottish independence is not the will of the Scottish electorate, which clearly rejected independence in last year’s referendum, but the will of the English electorate, writes Elliott Green

Former Botswana President Quett Masire deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest post-colonial African leaders

Quett Ketumile Joni Masire, President of Botswana from 1980 to 1998, died late on 22 June 2017 at the age of 91. Masire is by no means a household name, even among scholars of Africa, yet he deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest African leaders in post-colonial history, for three reasons

Growth more than population control

A letter from Dr Elliott Green, published in the Financial Times on 17 June 201

Commemorating Botswana’s 50 years since Independence #Botswanaat50

Elliott Green analyses the recipe for Botswana’s political and economic success in the fifty years since independence

LSE Research looks at the factors that determine how Africanleaders dispense patronage

Dr Elliot Green is a lecturer in Development Studies in LSE’s Department of International Development. In his latest paper, entitled Patronage as Institutional Choice, Dr Green uses the case studies of Rwanda and Uganda as he highlights geography and visibility as the two key factors that determine how African politicians distribute patronage

What are the most-cited publications in the social sciences (according to Google Scholar)?

Drawing on citation data that spans disciplines and time periods, Elliott Green has identified the most cited publications in the social sciences. Here he shares his findings on the 25 most cited books as well as the top ten journal articles. The sheer number of citations for these top cited publications is worth noting as is the fact that no one discipline dominates over the others in the top 20, with the top six books all from different disciplines

Dr Elliott Green examines Imagined Communities and nationalism in the colonial and post-colonial world

In a symposium on Benedict Anderson’s book Imagined Communities, first published in 1983, Dr Elliot Green looks at how relevant Anderson’s notion of ‘print capitalism’ has been to the national identity of Africa and other post-colonial countries

Tanzania at 50: does Nyerere deserve the blame and praise forthe country’s economic failure and political success

As Tanzania celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence, LSE’s Dr Elliott Green looks at why the East African country has not achieved economic success in tandem with political stability