Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/62634 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2010-7
Publisher: 
Brown University, Department of Economics, Providence, RI
Abstract: 
This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a signifcant effect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that, in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity and has had a long-lasting effect on the pattern of comparative economic development that is not captured by geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped effect on development outcomes in both the precolonial and the modern era, reflecting the trade-off between the benefcial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. Further, the optimal level of diversity has increased in the process of industrialization, as the benefcial forces associated with greater diversity have intensified in an environment characterized by more rapid technological progress.
Subjects: 
The Out of Africa hypothesis
Human genetic diversity
Comparative development
Income per capita
Population density
Neolithic Revolution
Land productivity
JEL: 
N10
N30
N50
O10
O50
Z10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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