173 research outputs found
Replication data for: Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture
No full textAshraf, Quamrul, and Michalopoulos, Stelios, (2015) "Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture." Review of Economics and Statistics 97:3, 574-588
The Folklore Database: Overview and Applications
No full textWebinar impartit por el Dr. Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown University), el 15 de juliol de 202
Replication data for: Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture
No full textAshraf, Quamrul, and Michalopoulos, Stelios, (2015) "Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture." Review of Economics and Statistics 97:3, 574-588
Replication Data for: 'Folklore'
No full textThe data and programs replicate tables and figures from "Folklore", by Michalopoulos and Xue. Please see the READ_ME file for additional details
Trade and Geography in the Spread of Islam
Full text linkThis study explores the historical determinants of the spread of Islam. Motivated by a plethora of historical accounts stressing the role of trade for the adoption of Islam, we construct detailed data on pre-Islamic trade routes to determine this empirical regularity. Our analysis establishes that proximity to the pre-600 CE trade network is a robust predictor of today's Muslim adherence across countries and ethnic groups in the Old World. We also show that Islam spread successfully in regions ecologically similar to the birthplace of the religion, the Arabian Peninsula, and discuss various mechanisms that may give rise to the observed pattern
Islam, inequality and pre-industrial comparative development
Full text linkThis study explores the interaction between trade and geography in shaping the Islamic economic doctrine in its first few centuries. We build a model where an unequal distribution of land quality in the presence of trade opportunities conferred differential gains from trade across regions, fostering predatory behavior by groups residing in the poorly endowed territories. We show that in such an environment it was mutually beneficial to institute an economic system of income redistribution featuring income transfers in return for safe passage to conduct trade. A commitment problem, however, rendered a merely static redistribution scheme unsustainable. Islam developed a set of dynamic redistributive rules that were self-enforcing. , in regions where arid lands dominated the landscape. While such principles fostered the expansion of trade within the Muslim world, they limited the accumulation of wealth by the commercial elite, shaping the economic trajectory of Islamic lands in the pre-industrial era
Finance and balanced growth
No full textWe study the relationships between various concepts of financial development and balanced economic growth. A model of endogenous growth that incorporates roles for both financial efficiency and access to financial services permits a better understanding of the relationship between the size of the financial sector (value added) and growth. Higher financial value added results from some, but not all, kinds of finance-driven growth. If greater access rather than greater efficiency generates higher growth, then value added and growth can be positively correlated. We present some preliminary empirical results that support the importance of access alongside efficiency in explaining cross-country variations in growth.Peer reviewe
Ethnic Inequality
Full text linkThis study explores the consequences and origins of between-ethnicity inequality for a large sample of countries. First, combining satellite images of nighttime luminosity with the homelands of ethnolinguistic groups, we construct measures of ethnic inequality. Second, we uncover a strong inverse association between ethnic inequality and contemporary development above and beyond its relationship with cross-region and cross–administrative unit inequality. Third, we establish that differences in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands explain a sizable fraction of the variation in economic disparities across groups. Fourth, we show that inequality in geographic endowments across ethnic homelands is a negative correlate of development
The Origins of Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Theory and Evidence
Full text linkThis research examines theoretically and empirically the economic origins of ethnolinguistic diversity. The empirical analysis constructs detailed data on the distribution of land quality and elevation across contiguous regions, virtual and real countries, and shows
that variation in elevation and land quality has contributed �significantly to the emergence and persistence of ethnic fractionalization. The empirical and historical evidence support the theoretical analysis, according to which heterogeneous land endowments generated region specific� human capital, limiting population mobility and leading to the formation of localized ethnicities and languages. The research contributes to the understanding of the emergence of ethnicities and their spatial distribution and offers a distinction between the natural, geographically driven, versus the artificial, man-made, components of contemporary ethnic diversity
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