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on Economic Growth |
| By: | Emilio Depetris-Chauvin (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary conflict in Africa. We document that both the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are higher close to historical ethnic borders. Exploiting variations across artificial regions within an ethnicity’s historical homeland and a theory-based instrumental variable approach, we find that regions crossed by historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity, and weak property rights. |
| Keywords: | Borders, Conflict, Intra-State Conflict, Ethnic Borders, Non-Civil Conflict, Ethnic Conflict, Territory, Property Rights, Landownership, Population Pressure, Migration, Historical Homelands, Development, Africa, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Voronoi Diagram, Voronoi Tesselation, Thiessen Tesselation |
| JEL: | D74 N57 O13 O17 O43 P48 Q15 Q34 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2303&r=gro |
| By: | Emilio Depetris-Chauvin (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of proximity to historical ethnic borders in determining individual land ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an instrumental variable strategy, we document that individuals have a lower likelihood of owning land near historical ethnic borders. In particular, the likelihood of owning land decreases by 15 percentage points, i.e., about 1/3 of the mean rate of landownership, for rural migrants who move from 57km (90th percentile) to 2 km (10th percentile) from the border. This result aligns with the view that competition for land is stronger and property rights are weaker close to historical ethnic borders in Sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Keywords: | Borders, Conflict, Intra-State Conflict, Ethnic Borders, Non-Civil Conflict, Ethnic Conflict, Territory, Property Rights, Landownership, Population Pressure, Migration, Historical Homelands, Development, Africa, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Voronoi Diagram, Voronoi Tesselation, Thiessen Tesselation |
| JEL: | D74 N57 O13 O17 O43 P48 Q15 Q34 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2304&r=gro |
| By: | Freeman, Jacob; Mauldin, Raymond P.; Hard, Robert J.; Solis, Kristina; Whisenhunt, Mary; Anderies, John M. |
| Abstract: | Despite years of debate, the factors that control the long-term carrying capacity of human populations are not well understood. In this paper, we assess the effect of changes in resource extraction and climate driven changes in ecosystem productivity on the carrying capacity of hunter-gatherer populations in a terrestrial and coastal ecosystem. To make this assessment, we build time-series estimates of changes in resource extraction via human stable isotopes and ecosystem productivity via paleoclimate models and geomorphic records of flood events. These estimates of resource extraction and ecosystem productivity allow us to assess a complex model of population expansion that proposes linked changes between population density, resource extraction, and intensification. We find that changes in resource extraction had a larger effect on carrying capacity in both the terrestrial and coastal ecosystems than climate drivers of ecosystem productivity. Our results are consistent with the idea that both Malthusian limits on resources and Boserupian pressures to reorganize economic systems operate in hunter-gatherer populations over the long-term. Our data and analysis contribute to evaluating complex models of population growth and subsistence change across archaeological cases. |
| Date: | 2023–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:e7rh8&r=gro |
| By: | Hiroshi Nishi; Kazuhiro Okuma |
| Abstract: | We build a three-dimensional Kaleckian dynamic model, incorporating government-provided social common capital’s long-run stock effects and subsequent debt accumulation. We investigate how fiscal stance changes and demand and distributional impacts in a wage-led growth regime affect social common capital accumulation, economic growth, and stability. The Keynesian stability and Domar conditions are necessary for a long-run economically meaningful steady state, while a proactive fiscal stance promotes higher economic growth and a more sustainable economy. A higher wage share stabilises the economy by increasing the likelihood of satisfying the Domar condition, realising an equitable workers/capitalists income distribution, and establishing a resilient economy. |
| Keywords: | Social common capital, fiscal sustainability, government debt, wage-led growth, Kaleckian model |
| JEL: | E11 E12 E25 H54 O40 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2305&r=gro |
| By: | Peter Grajzl; Peter Murrell |
| Abstract: | We combine unsupervised machine-learning and econometric methods to examine cultural change in 16th- and 17th-century England. A machine-learning digest synthesizes the content of 57, 863 texts comprising 83 million words into 110 topics. The topics include the expected, such as Natural Philosophy, and the unexpected, such as Baconian Theology. Using the data generated via machine-learning we then study facets of England's cultural history. Timelines suggest that religious and political discourse gradually became more scholarly over time and economic topics more prominent. The epistemology associated with Bacon was present in theological debates already in the 16th century. Estimating a VAR, we explore the coevolution of ideas on religion, science, and institutions. Innovations in religious ideas induced strong responses in the other two domains. Revolutions did not spur debates on institutions nor did the founding of the Royal Society markedly elevate attention to science. |
| Keywords: | cultural history, England, machine-learning, text-as-data, coevolution, VAR |
| JEL: | C80 Z10 N00 P10 C30 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10325&r=gro |