Papers by Enrico Spolaore
This replication package allows replication of all the empirical results in the paper "Ferti... more This replication package allows replication of all the empirical results in the paper "Fertility and Modernity" by Spolaore and Wacziarg. Please see the readme.pdf file for details.
The MIT Press eBooks, May 7, 2019
This paper was prepared as keynote lecture for the CESIfo conference on "Disrupted Economic Relat... more This paper was prepared as keynote lecture for the CESIfo conference on "Disrupted Economic Relationships: Disasters, Sanctions and Dissolutions," organized by Volker Nitsch and Tibor Besedeš and held in Venice, Italy. We thank conference participants for their comments. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
The MIT Press eBooks, Aug 19, 2016
This chapter explores the fundamental drivers of economic development and political institutions.... more This chapter explores the fundamental drivers of economic development and political institutions. It provides a novel empirical analysis of the determinants of institutional differences and the diffusion of institutional innovations across societies. A critical discussion of the recent literature is presented, documenting how economic and political outcomes are affected by traits that have deep historical and geographic roots and that are passed on from generation to generation. The hypothesis is presented that intergenerationally transmitted traits affect current outcomes by acting as barriers to the diffusion of technological and institutional innovations: a longer historical separation time between populations creates greater barriers. Hence, the degree of ancestral distance between a given society and the society at the frontier of institutional and technological development should be associated with higher barriers and lower adoption. This hypothesis is tested empirically with crosscountry data. Empirical fi ndings provide substantial support for the proposition that long-term historical distance from the frontier affects both current institutions and development.
, and the participants of the UChicago International Macro-Finance Conference, the NBER IFM meeti... more , and the participants of the UChicago International Macro-Finance Conference, the NBER IFM meeting, the Online IFM Seminar and numerous other seminars and conferences for helpful comments. Pablo Roa Prieto and Michele Schincaglia provided outstanding research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
Madison for comments. We also thank Robert Barro and Jim Fearon for providing some data. The view... more Madison for comments. We also thank Robert Barro and Jim Fearon for providing some data. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Handbook of economic growth, 2005
2 1. Introduction 3 2. Size, openness and growth: Theory 4 2.1. The costs and benefits of size 4 ... more 2 1. Introduction 3 2. Size, openness and growth: Theory 4 2.1. The costs and benefits of size 4 2.1.1. The benefits of size 5 2.1.2. The costs of size 7 2.2. A model of size, trade and growth 8 2.2.1. Production and trade 8 2.2.2. Capital accumulation and growth 10 2.3. The equilibrium size of countries 12 2.4. Summing up 15 3. Size, openness and growth: Empirical evidence 16 3.1. Trade and growth: a review of the evidence 16 3.2. Country size and growth: a review of the evidence 18 3.3. Summing up 20 3.4. Trade, size and growth in a cross-section of countries 20 3.4.1. Descriptive statistics 21 3.4.2. Growth, openness and size: panel regressions 24 3.5. Endogeneity of openness: 3SLS estimates 27 3.5.1. Magnitudes and summary
The data and programs replicate tables and figures from "The Diffusion of Development",... more The data and programs replicate tables and figures from "The Diffusion of Development", by Spolaore and Wacziarg
Journal of Applied Econometrics, Jun 3, 2018
We revisit the relation between ancestral distance and barriers to the di¤usion of development us... more We revisit the relation between ancestral distance and barriers to the di¤usion of development using a new genomic dataset on human microsatellite variation. With these new data we …nd a statistically and economic signi…cant e¤ect of ancestral distance from the technological frontier on income per capita, controlling for geographic factors, climatic di¤erences, continental …xed e¤ects and genetic diversity within populations. The historical pattern of the e¤ect is hump shaped, peaking between 1870 and 1913, and declining steeply afterwards. These …ndings are consistent with the hypothesis that ancestral distance acts as a temporary barrier to the di¤usion of innovations and development.
The Review of Economics and Statistics, Dec 1, 2016
We develop a theory of interstate conflict in which the degree of genealogical relatedness betwee... more We develop a theory of interstate conflict in which the degree of genealogical relatedness between populations has a positive effect on their conflict propensities because more closely related populations, on average, tend to interact more and develop more disputes over sets of common issues. We examine the empirical relationship between the occurrence of interstate conflicts and the degree of relatedness between countries, showing that populations that are genetically closer are more prone to go to war with each other, even after controlling for a wide set of measures of geographic distance and other factors that affect conflict, including measures of trade and democracy.
Journal of Economic Growth, Dec 1, 2005
This paper presents a framework to understand and measure the effects of political borders on eco... more This paper presents a framework to understand and measure the effects of political borders on economic growth and per capita income levels. In our model, political integration between two countries results in a positive country size effect and a negative effect through reduced openness vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Additional effects stem from possible changes in other growth determinants, besides country size and openness, when countries are merged. We estimate the growth effects that would have resulted from the hypothetical removal of national borders between pairs of adjacent countries under various scenarios. We identify country pairs where political integration would have been mutually beneficial. We find that full political integration would have slightly reduced an average country's growth rate, while most countries would benefit from a more limited form of merger, involving higher economic integration with their neighbors.
Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1, 2009
This paper provides a framework relating the vertical transmission of characteristics across gene... more This paper provides a framework relating the vertical transmission of characteristics across generations-such as the transmission of culture, language, norms and values-to differences in income per capita across countries. We propose a novel way to measure cultural barriers using genetic distance, i.e. coancestor coefficients from population genetics. Our econometric methodology addresses the problem of spatial correlation inherent in having pairwise income differences as our dependent variable. We find a significant effect of genetic distance on income differences, even when controlling for geographical distance, differences in latitude, and other cultural and geographic distance measures. These results hold not only for contemporary income differences, but also for income differences measured as of 1500 and 1700. We uncover similar patterns of coefficients for the proximate determinants of income differences (differences in human capital, institutions, investment rates and population growth). Our results suggest an important role for vertically transmitted characteristics in the diffusion of development.
We revisit the relationship between ancestral distance and barriers to the di¤usion of developmen... more We revisit the relationship between ancestral distance and barriers to the di¤usion of development using a new genomic dataset on human microsatellite variation. With this new data we con…rm past …ndings of a statistically and economically signi…cant e¤ect of ancestral distance from the technological frontier on income per capita. The historical pattern of the e¤ect is hump shaped, peaking between 1870 and 1913, and declining steeply afterwards. These …ndings are consistent with the hypothesis that ancestral distance acts as a temporary barrier to the di¤usion of innovations and development.
for helpful comments. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors... more for helpful comments. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
We document an empirical relationship between the crosscountry adoption of technologies and the d... more We document an empirical relationship between the crosscountry adoption of technologies and the degree of long-term historical relatedness between human populations. Historical relatedness is measured using genetic distance, a measure of the time since two populations' last common ancestors. We find that the measure of human relatedness that is relevant to explain international technology diffusion is genetic distance relative to the world technological frontier ("relative frontier distance"). This evidence is consistent with long-term historical relatedness acting as a barrier to technology adoption: societies that are more distant from the technological frontier tend to face higher imitation costs. The results can help explain current differences in total factor productivity and income per capita across countries.
Elsevier eBooks, 2014
This paper was prepared for the Handbook of Economic Growth. There were no sources of funding for... more This paper was prepared for the Handbook of Economic Growth. There were no sources of funding for this research and neither author has any relevant and material financial relationship to disclose. All errors are our own. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
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Papers by Enrico Spolaore