In this episode we chat with David Weil about his paper “Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space’”. David and his co-authors, J. Vernon Henderson and Adam Storeygard, use nigh lights from satellite data as a proxy for GDP measure. As an application, they examine growth in Sub Saharan African regions over the last 17 years….

In this episode we chat with Timur Kuran about his paper “Economic Harbingers of Political Modernization: Peaceful Explosion of Rights in Ottoman Istanbul”. Timur, looking at the Ottoman empire, explores the conditions under which fundamental rights expand without major resistance allowing radical institutional reforms in a peaceful context. Paper link: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3434656 Learn more about Timur:…

In this episode we chat with Melissa Dell about her paper “The Persistent Effect of Peru’s Mining Mita”. Melissa examines the long-run impacts of the Mita, an extensive forced mining labor system in effect in Peru and Bolivia between 1573 and 1812. She finds that a Mita effect lowers household consumption by around 25% and…

In this episode we chat with Elias Papaioannou about his paper “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development’”. Elias and his co-author, Stelios Michalopoulos, investigate the role of deeply rooted pre-colonial ethnic institutions in shaping comparative regional development within African countries. They find a strong positive association between pre-colonial political complexity and contemporary development Paper…

In this episode we chat with Raul Sanchez de la Sierra about his paper “On the Origins of the State: Stationary Bandits and Taxation in Eastern Congo’”. Raul, in his paper, finds that armed actors may create “essential functions of a state” to better expropriate, which, depending on their goals, can increase welfare. Paper link:…

In this episode we chat with Stelios Michalopoulos about his paper “The long-run effects of the ‘Scramble for Africa’”. Stelios and his co-author, Elias Papaioannou, look into the effect imposed borders had on splitting ethnicities across countries in Africa. They find that colonial border designs have spurred political violence and that ethnic partitioning is systematically…

In this episode we chat with Paola Giuliano about her paper​ “On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough”. Paola and her co-authors, Alberto Alesina and Nathan Nunn, study the historical origins of existing cross-cultural differences in beliefs and values regarding the appropriate role of women in society.They test the hypothesis that traditional…

In this episode we chat with Gupta Bishnupriya about her paper​ “Falling Behind and Catching up — India’s Transition from a Colonial Economy”. Gupta study how India fell behind during colonial rule. Inadequate investment in agriculture and consequent decline in yield per acre stalled economic growth. Modern industries emerged and grew relatively fast. The reversal…

In this episode we chat with Leonard Wantchekon about his paper​ “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa”. Leonard and his co-author, Nathan Nunn, study why the current differences in trust levels within Africa can be traced back to the transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with…

In this episode we chat with Sara Lowes about her paper​ “The Legacy of Colonial Medicine in Central Africa”. Sara and her co-author study how the delivery of health aid can be jeopardised by distrust at the local level. Using evidence from French military campaigns in Cameroon and former French Equatorial Africa they show that…