Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/145428 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2015-5
Publisher: 
Brown University, Department of Economics, Providence, RI
Abstract: 
This paper establishes that the Caloric Suitability Index (CSI) dominates the commonly used measure of agricultural suitability in the examination of the effect of land productivity on comparative economic development. The analysis demonstrates that the agricultural suitability index does not capture the large variation in the potential caloric yield across equally suitable land, reflecting the fact that land suitable for agriculture is not necessarily suitable for the most caloric-intensive crops. Hence, in light of the instrumental role played by caloric yield in sustaining and supporting population growth, and given importance of pre-industrial population density for the subsequent course of economic development, the Caloric Suitability Index dominates the conventional measure in capturing the effect of land productivity on pre-colonial population density and the subsequent course of economic development.
Subjects: 
Caloric Suitability
Agricultural Suitability
Agricultural Productivity
Land Productivity
Economic Development
Population Density
JEL: 
O10
O40
Q10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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