Geography, Land Ownership and Literacy: Historical Evidence from Greek Regions

Benos, Nikos and Karagiannis, Stelios and Tsitou, Sofia (2022): Geography, Land Ownership and Literacy: Historical Evidence from Greek Regions.

Abstract

This study examines the impact of land ownership on literacy rates in a cross-section of Greek provinces around 1900. Consistent with our theoretical framework (Galor et al., 2009), we find that the dominance of large properties has a substantial adverse effect on human capital accumulation. Thus, our evidence explains a substantial part of provincial differences in terms of human capital in early 20th century Greece for the first time. This differs from much of the literature, because Greece was at the early stages of the transition to the industrial era during the period examined.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Landownership - Human capital - Geography - Regional analysis
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C2 - Single Equation Models ; Single Variables > C21 - Cross-Sectional Models ; Spatial Models ; Treatment Effect Models ; Quantile Regressions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I20 - General; N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy > N34 - Europe: 1913-; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation ; Agriculture and Environment

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