The Impact of European Settlement within French West Africa. Did pre-colonial prosperous areas fall behind?.

Did colonization change the distribution of prosperity within French-speaking West Africa? Using a new database on both pre-colonial and colonial contexts, this paper gives evidence that Europeans tended to settle in more prosperous pre-colonial areas and that the European settlement had a strong positive impact on current outcomes, even in an extractive colonial context, resulting in a positive relationship between pre and post-colonial performances. I argue that the African hostility towards colonial power to colonisation provides a random variation in European settlement since it damaged the profitability of colonial activities and dissuaded European from settling, but does not have a direct effect on current outcomes. Rich and hostile areas received less European settlers than they would have received had they not been so hostile, resulting in lower current performances partly due to lower colonial investments. Despite the absence of a “reversal of fortune” within former French West Africa, some of the most prosperous pre-colonial areas lost their advantage because of their hostility: other areas caught up and became the new leaders in the region.Colonization; West Africa; Economic history;

The Black Man's Burden - The cost of colonization of French West Africa for French taxpayers

Was colonization very costly for the metropole? This view has been widely accepted among French historians even though little empirical evidence has been provided. Using original data from the colonial budgets of French West Africa (AOF) this paper provides new insights into the actual colonial public funding in this part of the French empire. Comparing the financial transfers from the metropole to AOF to total metropolitan expenses reveals that the cost of colonization of the AOF for French taxpayers was extremely low: French subsidies to the AOF represented on average 0.007 percent of total metropolitan expenses. From the AOF side financial transfers from the metropole were not that beneficiary since French subsidies represented on average 0.4 percent of total local revenue. Including the public loans and cash advances from the metropole does not change this general pattern. West Africans therefore funded most colonial public investments which reveal to be very small. One reason for the scarcity of public investments is the cost of French civil servants serving in the colonies which turned out to be a considerable burden for Africans: French government officials alone represented 20 percent of total local public expenses.colonization ; public finances ; West Africa

History Matters: The Long Term Impact of Colonial Public Investments in French West Africa

To what extent do colonial public investments continue to influence current regional inequalities in French-speaking West Africa? Using a new database and the spatial discontinuities of colonial investment policy, this paper gives evidence that early colonial investments had large and persistent effects on current outcomes. The nature of investments also matters. Current educational outcomes have been more specifically determined by colonial investments in education rather than health and infrastructures, and vice versa. I show that a major channel for this historical dependency is a strong persistence of investments; regions that got more at the early colonial times continued to get more

The Black Man's Burden :The Cost of Colonization of French West Africa

Was colonization very costly for the metropole? This view has been widely accepted among French historians, even though little empirical evidence has been provided. Using original data from the colonial budgets of French West Africa (AOF), this paper provides new insights into the actual colonial public funding in this part of the French empire. Comparing the financial transfers from the metropole to AOF to total metropolitan expenses reveals that the cost of colonization of the AOF for French taxpayers was extremely low: French subsidies to the AOF represented on average 0.007 percent of total metropolitan expenses. From the AOF side, financial transfers from the metropole were not that beneficiary since French subsidies represented on average 0.4 percent of total local revenue. Including the public loans and cash advances from the metropole does not change this general pattern. West Africans therefore funded most colonial public investments, which reveal to be very small. One reason for the scarcity of public investments is the cost of French civil servants serving in the colonies, which turned out to be a considerable burden for Africans: French government officials alone represented 20 percent of total local public expenses

The Black Man's Burden - The cost of colonization of French West Africa for French taxpayers

Was colonization very costly for the metropole? This view has been widely accepted among French historians even though little empirical evidence has been provided. Using original data from the colonial budgets of French West Africa (AOF) this paper provides new insights into the actual colonial public funding in this part of the French empire. Comparing the financial transfers from the metropole to AOF to total metropolitan expenses reveals that the cost of colonization of the AOF for French taxpayers was extremely low: French subsidies to the AOF represented on average 0.007 percent of total metropolitan expenses. From the AOF side financial transfers from the metropole were not that beneficiary since French subsidies represented on average 0.4 percent of total local revenue. Including the public loans and cash advances from the metropole does not change this general pattern. West Africans therefore funded most colonial public investments which reveal to be very small. One reason for the scarcity of public investments is the cost of French civil servants serving in the colonies which turned out to be a considerable burden for Africans: French government officials alone represented 20 percent of total local public expenses.La colonisation française a-t-elle coûté cher à la métropole ? Cette idée a été largement diffusée par certains historiens français, malgré les défaillances des données disponibles sur la question. En utilisant les données des budgets coloniaux de l'Afrique occidentale française, ce papier apporte de nouveaux éléments sur le financement public de la colonisation française dans cette partie de l'empire. En comparant les transferts financiers de la métropole vers l'AOF aux dépenses totales de l'Etat français, il s'avère que le coût de la colonisation pour les contribuables métropolitains a été extrêmement faible : les aides publiques ont représenté en moyenne 0.007 pourcent du total des dépenses métropolitaines. Pour l'AOF, les aides publiques de la France n'ont pas non plus été si avantageuses, ne représentant en moyenne que 0.4 pourcent du total des recettes du territoire. Le fait d'inclure les prêts et les avances ne changent pas fondamentalement le diagnostic. Les habitants de l'AOF ont donc financé eux-mêmes la quasi-totalité des investissements publics effectués sur le territoire, qui sont restés très peu importants. Une des raisons de la rareté des investissements publics était le coût de ces investissements : le poids budgétaire des fonctionnaires français a été un fardeau considérable pour les contribuables africains, le personnel de commandement absorbant à lui seul 20 pourcent du total des dépenses du territoire

Spin-Cooling of the Motion of a Trapped Diamond

Observing and controlling macroscopic quantum systems has long been a driving force in research on quantum physics. In this endeavor, strong coupling between individual quantum systems and mechanical oscillators is being actively pursued. While both read-out of mechanical motion using coherent control of spin systems and single spin read-out using pristine oscillators have been demonstrated, temperature control of the motion of a macroscopic object using long-lived electronic spins has not been reported. Here, we observe both a spin-dependent torque and spin-cooling of the motion of a trapped microdiamond. Using a combination of microwave and laser excitation enables the spin of nitrogen-vacancy centers to act on the diamond orientation and to cool the diamond libration via a dynamical back-action. Further, driving the system in the non-linear regime, we demonstrate bistability and self-sustained coherent oscillations stimulated by the spin-mechanical coupling, which offers prospects for spin-driven generation of non-classical states of motion. Such a levitating diamond operated as a compass with controlled dissipation has implications in high-precision torque sensing, emulation of the spin-boson problem and probing of quantum phase transitions. In the single spin limit and employing ultra-pure nano-diamonds, it will allow quantum non-demolition read-out of the spin of nitrogen-vacancy centers under ambient conditions, deterministic entanglement between distant individual spins and matter-wave interferometry.Comment: New version with a calibration of angular resolution and sensitivity. Fig. 1 is also replaced to show an ODMR when the diamond is static to avoid spin-torque induced distortion

Impact of European Settlement within French West Africa.

Did colonisation change the distribution of prosperity within French-speaking West Africa? Using a new database on both pre-colonial and colonial contexts, this paper gives evidence that Europeans tended to settle in more prosperous pre-colonial areas and that the European settlement had a strong positive impact on current outcomes, even in an extractive colonial context, resulting in a positive relationship between pre- and post-colonial performances. I argue that the African hostility towards colonial power to colonisation provides a random variation in European settlement since it damaged the profitability of colonial activities and dissuaded Europeans from settling, but does not have a direct effect on current outcomes. Rich and hostile areas received less European settlers than they would have received had they not been so hostile, resulting in lower current performances partly due to lower colonial investments. Despite the absence of a ‘reversal of fortune’ within former French West Africa, some of the most prosperous pre-colonial areas lost their advantage because of their hostility: other areas caught up and became the new leaders in the region.

Performance-Based Financing, Motivation and Final Output in the Health Sector: Experimental Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Performance-based financing becomes a common strategy to improve health sector quality. The findings of this paper imply that performance-based financing should take motivational effects and levels of provider capacity into account. Using a field experiment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we find that financial incentives led to more effort from health workers on rewarded activities, without deterring effort on non-rewarded activities. We also find a shift from intrinsic to extrinsic motivation. Finally, the increased effort by health workers proved unsuccessful and led to a reduction in revenue, suggesting that health workers lacked the capacity to develop appropriate strategies to perform

Biased Aspirations and Social Inequality at School: Evidence from French Teenagers

This paper provides empirical evidence on how aspirations are formed and affect individual behavior, decisions, and paths in the context of education. Using unique data on aspirations, academic performance and actual track assignment to high school of French ninth graders, we show that low-SES students have lower aspirations than their equally-achieving high-SES classmates, and that track assignments to high school the next year are even more unequal due to dysfunctional dynamics: first, both low aspirations and low SES are associated with slower academic progress over the year. Second, aspirations and parental SES play a role in track assignment independent of one’s academic performance. Our results suggest that, in France, an aspirational trap at school contributes to the poverty trap, leading to the perpetuation of social inequalities