Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/102626 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2013-4
Publisher: 
Brown University, Department of Economics, Providence, RI
Abstract: 
We revisit the idea that colonized countries that were more (less) economically advanced in 1500 became poorer (richer, respectively) by the late 20th century. Using data on place of origin of today's country populations and the urbanization and population density measures used by Acemoglu et al. (2002) as indicators of level of development in 1500, we confirm a reversal of fortune for territories but find persistence of fortune for people and their descendants. The results are equally strong or stronger for three alternative measures of early development, namely years since transition to agriculture, state history, and the Comin et al. (2010) year 1500 technology index. They are also robust to changing end years, to inclusion of non-colonized countries or exclusion of "neo-Europas" and city states, and to the addition of various controls.
Subjects: 
Long-Run Economic Growth
Comparative Developement
Colonized Countries
Early Developement
JEL: 
O40
O10
N10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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