Arbeitspapier
The colonial origins of inequality: exploring the causes and consequences of land distribution
Recent literature has pointed out that the historical distribution of assets is crucial in explaining the observed rigidity in post-war income inequality levels. This paper explores the causes and consequences of historical land distribution employing new and existing estimates of land inequality in cross-country OLS regressions. The two central questions addressed are 1) what explains the cross-country variation in land inequality at the end of the colonial period? 2) how does initial land inequality relate to current income inequality? It is shown that land distribution is determined by (colonial) institutions responding to relative factor endowments and natural geographic conditions as the disease environment and the feasibility to grow particular food- or cash-crops. Local conditions and institutional responses differed largely from region to region. Whereas the direct relation between initial land inequality and income inequality appears to be weak, controlling for (colonial) institutional variables reveals a strong relation between initial land inequality and current (1990's) income inequality. High levels of income inequality, specifically in Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America, are shown to have fundamentally different colonial origins.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: IAI Discussion Papers ; No. 119
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: General, International, or Comparative
Economic History: Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries: General, International, or Comparative
Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Frankema, E.H.P.
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI)
- (where)
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Göttingen
- (when)
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2005
- Handle
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Frankema, E.H.P.
- Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI)
Time of origin
- 2005
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