Agrarian Structure and Endogenous Financial System Development

The development of the financial system is shown, both historically and in contemporary data, to be adversely affected by inequality in the distribution of land. To accommodate these empirical findings, a theory is developed that highlights the incentives of landowners to oppose competition in the financial sector. The theory provides an explanation for the co-incident development of the financial sector and overall economy.Land Distribution, financial development, overlapping generations, financial institutions

The Emergence of Human Capital Promoting Institutions in the Process of Development

This research suggests that favorable geographical conditions, that were inherently associated with inequality in the distribution of land ownership, adversely affected the implementation of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling and child labor regulations), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the Great Divergence in income per capita across countries.\QTR{it}{and Inequality, Institutions, Geography, Human capital accumulation, Growth}\medskip

Land Inequality and the Origin of Divergence and Overtaking in the Growth Process

This research develops a unified growth theory that captures the transition from the domination of geographical factors\ in the determination of productivity in early stages of development to the domination of institutional factors in mature stages of development. It identifies a novel channel through which favorable geographical conditions that were inherently associated with inequality adversely affected the emergence of institutions that promote human capital accumulation. The research suggests that the distribution of land ownership within and across countries affected the nature of the transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy generating diverging growth patterns across countries. Furthermore, the qualitative change in the role of land in the process of industrialization brought about changes in the ranking of countries in the world income distribution. The basic premise of this research, regarding the negative effect of land inequality on public expenditure on education is established empirically based on cross-state data from the High School Movement in the first half of the 20th century in the US.Land Inequality, Institutions, Geography, Human capital accumulation, Growth

Inequality in Land Ownership, the Emergence of Human Capital Promoting Institutions, and the Great Divergence

This research suggests that favorable geographical conditions, that were inherently associated with inequality in the distribution of land ownership, adversely affected the implementation of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling and child labor regulations), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the Great Divergence in income per capita across countries. The basic premise of this research, regarding the negative effect of land inequality on public expenditure on education is established empirically based on cross-state data from the beginning of the 20th century in the United States.Land Inequality, Institutions, Geography, Human capital accumulation, Growth

Land Inequality and the Emergence of Human Capital Promoting Institutions

This research suggests that favorable geographical conditions, that were inherently associated with inequality in the distribution of land ownership, adversely affected the implementation of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling and child labor regulations), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the Great Divergence in income per capita across countries. The basic premise of this research, regarding the negative effect of land inequality on public expenditure on education is established empirically based on cross-state data from the beginning of the 20th century in the United States.Land Inequality, Institutions, Geography, Human capital accumulation, Growth

Land inequality and the emergence of human capital promoting institutions

This research suggests that favorable geographical conditions, that were inherently associated with inequality in the distribution of land ownership, adversely affected the implementation of human capital promoting institutions (e.g., public schooling and child labor regulations), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the Great Divergence in income per capita across countries. The basic premise of this research, regarding the negative effect of land inequality on public expenditure on education is established empirically based on cross-state data from the beginning of the 20th century in the United States

Urbanisation with and without industrialisation

Despite established historical links between industrialisation and urbanisation, newer patterns of urbanisation, observed across much of the developing world, suggest that the drivers of urbanisation matter. Today’s blog looks at the difference between resource-led urbanisation and more the traditional form of industrialisation-led urbanisation that we associate with development

The Dual Economy in Long-run Development

This paper provides a dynamic model of the dual economy in which differences in productivity across sectors arise endogenously. Rather than relying on exogenous price distortions, duality arises because of differences between sectors in the separability of their fertility and labor decisions. The model demonstrates how a dual economy will originate, persist, and eventually disappear within a unified growth framework. It is also shown that agricultural productivity growth will exacerbate the inefficiencies of a dual economy and slow down long-run growth

Wealth Distribution and the Provision of Public Goods: Evidence from the United States

This paper examines the role of inequality in the provision of public goods. County level data from the U.S. in 1890 provides comparable units of analysis operating with similar property tax systems, ensuring that we do not empirically confuse differences in tax systems with differences in public goods provision. Climatic data is used as an instrument for land inequality to provide identification of the effect of inequality. The results indicate that land inequality caused significantly lower overall property tax rates. This effect is driven almost exclusively by the effect of land inequality on taxes related directly to schooling. In contrast, non-school funding was not significantly affected by inequality. While informative about the effect of land inequality on public goods provision, an examination of the details of the tax system suggests that these results should not necessarily be taken as a rejection of median voter predictions