Size Matters: The Effect of the Scramble for Africa on Informal Institutions and Development

Dimico, Arcangelo (2013): Size Matters: The Effect of the Scramble for Africa on Informal Institutions and Development.

Abstract

We argue that the partition of ethnic groups following the Scramble for Africa does not itself matter for development in Africa. It matters only when the partitioned groups are relatively small because small groups lack political representation which may promote ethnic mobilization and foster support for informal (rather than formal) institutions which then may affect development. Furthermore, the analysis of data from the Afrobarometer shows that the persistence of informal/tribal institutions related to property rights and the rule of law is one of the possible channels through which the size of the partitioned group affects development.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Partition; Ethnic Groups; Institutions; Development
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; P - Economic Systems > P4 - Other Economic Systems > P48 - Political Economy ; Legal Institutions ; Property Rights ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Regional Studies

References

Acemoglu, Daron, (2005): “Politics and Economics in Weak and Strong States,” Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 52(7), pages 1199-1226

Acemoglu, D. and S. Johnson (2005): “Unbundling Institutions,” Journal of Political Economy, 113(5), 949—995.

Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson and J. A. Robinson (2001): “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation,” American Economic Review, 91(5), 1369—1401.

Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson and J. A. Robinson (2002): “Reversal Of Fortune: Geography And Institutions In The Making Of The Modern World Income Distribution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(4), 1231—1294.

Acemoglu, D., S. Johnson and J. A. Robinson (2005): “Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth,” in Handbook of Economic Growth, ed. P. Aghion and S. N. Durlauf, pp. 109—139. Elsevier North Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Acemoglu, D., J. A. Robinson (2012): Why Nations Fail. The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty. Crown Publishers, New York, NY

Acemoglu, D., D. Ticchi and A. Vindigni (2011): “Emergence And Persistence Of Inefficient States” Journal of the European Economic Association, 9(2): 177-208

Adewumi, J.B. & J Egwurube. (1980): “Role of traditional rulers in historical perspective”. In Aborisade, Oladimeji (Ed.). Local Government and the traditional rulers in Nigeria. Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press.

Ajala, Adekunle (1983): “The Nature of African Boundaries;” Afrika Spectrum, 18, 177-188

Alesina, Alberto, Arnaud Devleeschauwer, William Easterly, Sergio Kurlat and Romain Wacziarg (2003): “Fractionalization,” NBER Working Papers 9411

Alesina, A. and E. Spolaore (2003): “The Size of Nations”. MIT Press.

Alesina, A., W. Eastely and J. Matuszesky, (2011): “Artificial States,” Journal of the European Economic Association, 9(2), 246—277.

Angrist, J. and J.-S. Pischke (2008): “Mostly Harmless Econometrics”. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

Asiwaju, A. I. (1985): “The Conceptual Framework,” in A. I.

Asiwaju (Ed.), Partitioned Africans (pp. 1-18). New York: St. Martin’s.

Bach, Daniel (1999): “Regionalisation in Africa: Integration and Disintegration”. Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Barbour, K. M. (1961): “A Geographical Analysis of Boundaries in Inter-Tropical Africa”. In K. M. Barbour & R. M. Prothero (Eds.), Essays on African population (pp. 303-323). London: Routledge Kegan Paul

Bayart, Jean-François. (1996): L’Historicité de l’Etat Importé”, In J. Bayart (Ed.), La Greffe de l’Etat (pp. 11-39). Paris: Khartala

Bello, Adebayo (1995): “The Boundaries Must Change,” West Africa, p. 546

Besley, T. and T. Persson (2010): “State Capacity, Conflict and Development,” Econometrica, 78(1), 1—34.

Besley, T. and T. Persson (2011): “Pillars of Prosperity. The Political Economics of Development Clusters”. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Brinks, Daniel (2003): “Informal Institutions and the Rule of Law: The Judicial Response to State Killings in Buenos Aires and São Paulo in the 1990s”. Comparative Politics 36 (1): 1–19.

Brownlie, Ian (1979): “African Boundaries: A Legal and Diplomatic Encyclopedia,” London: C. Hurst

Cederman, L.E., Wimmer, A. and Min, B. (2010): “Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis”, World Politics 62(1): 87-119

Chen, Xi, and Nordhaus, Williams D. (2010): “The Value of Luminosity Data as a Proxy for Economic Statistics”, NBER Working Paper 16317

Clapham, Christopher (1996b): “Boundary and Territory in the Horn of Africa”. In Paul Nugent & A. I. Asiwaju (Eds.), African boundaries (pp. 237-250). London: Pinter

Conley, Timothy G. (2008): "Spatial Econometrics." The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Second Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan.

Davidson, Basil (1992): The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State, New York: Times Book

Doll, C. N., J.-P. Muller and J. G. Morley (2006): “Mapping Regional Economic Activity from Night-Time Light Satellite Imagery,” Ecological Economics, 57, 75—92.

Dowden, R. (2008): “Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracle” Portobello Books Ltd

Dube, A., Lester, T. W. and Reich, M. (2009) “Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties”, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper, 157:07.

Easterly, William and Levine, Ross (1997): “Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 112(4): 1203-50

Easterly, William & Levine, Ross (2003): “Tropics, Germs and Crops: How Endowments Influence Economic Development,” Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 3-39

Elvidge, C., K. Baugh, E. Kihn, H. Kroehl and E. Davis (1997): “Mapping of City Lights Using DMSP Operational Linescan System data,” Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 63, 727—734.

Englebert, P., S. Tarango and M. Carter (2002): “Dismemberment and Suffocation: A Contribution to the Debate on African Boundaries,” Comparative Political Studies, 35(10), 1093—1118.

Englebert, P. (2000a): “Solving the Mystery of the Africa Dummy” World Development, 28 (10):1821-1835

Englebert, Pierre (2000b): “Pre-Colonial Institutions, Post-Colonial States and Economic Development in Tropical Africa,” Political Research Quarterly 53: 7-36

Esteban, Joan and Debraj Ray (2008): “Polarization, Fractionalization and Conflict,” Journal of Peace Research, 45,163-182.

Ethnologue (2005): Languages of the World, SIL International; Fifteenth edition.

Fearon, James D (2005): “Ethnic Mobilization and Ethnic Violence” In Barry R. Weingast and Donald Wittman, Eds., Oxford Handbook of Political Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006

Fearon, James D (2003): “Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country,” Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 195-222

Fearon, James and David D. Laitin (2003): “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War”. American Political Science Review 97(1): pp.75-90

Francois, Patrick, Ilia Rainer and Francesco Trebbi (2012): “How Is Power Shared In Africa?”, NBER Working Paper No. 18425

Gennaioli, N. and I. Rainer (2006): “Precolonial Centralization and Institutional Quality in Africa,” in Institutions and Norms in Economic Development, by M. Gradstein and K. Conrad, (Eds.) MIT Press

Glaeser, E.L., La Porta R., de-Silanes F. L. and Shleifer A. (2004): “Do Institutions Cause Growth?” Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pp. 271-303, Ghosh, T., Powell, R., Elvidge, C. D., Baugh, K. E.,

Sutton, P. C. & Anderson, S. (2010): “Shedding Light on the Global Distribution of economic Activity” The Open Geography Journal (3), 148-161

Griffiths, Ieuan. (1996): “Permeable Boundaries in Africa”, In Paul Nugent & A. I. Asiwaju (Eds.), African Boundaries (pp. 68-83). London: Pinter

Helmke G. and Levitsky S. 2004 “Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda” Perspectives on Politics, 2(4): 725-40

Henderson, V. J., A. Storeygard and D. N.Weil (2012): “Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space,” American Economic Review, 102(2): 994-1028

Herbst, J. (2000): “States and Power in Africa”. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Horowitz, Donald L. (1985): “Ethnic Groups in Conflict”, University of California Press

Huntington, S. P. (1991): “The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century”, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991

Keulder, C. (2000): “Traditional Leaders, State, Society and Democracy: A Reader in Namibian Politics,” Christiaan Keulder (Ed.) Macmillan Education Namibia

Kum, Joseph M. (1993): “The Central African Subregion,” in Disarmament: Workshop on the Role of Border Problems in African Peace and Security (pp. 49-71). New York: United Nations

La Porta, R. L., F. L. De Silanes, A. Shleifer and R. Vishny (1997): “Legal Determinants of External Finance,” Journal of Finance, 52(3), 1131—1150.

La Porta, R. L., F. L. De Silanes, A. Shleifer and R. Vishny (1998): “Law and Finance,” Journal of Political Economy, 106(6), 1113—1155.

Mattes, Robert B. and Amanda Gouws (1999): “Race, Ethnicity and Voting Behavior: Lessons from South Africa,” In Electoral Systems and Conflict in Divided Societies, Andrew Reynolds and Ben Reilly (Eds.) Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Mattes, Robert B. and Jessica Piombo (2001): “Opposition parties and the voters in South Africa’s General Election of 1999,” Democratization 8(3): 101-12

Mellinger, Andrew D., Jeffrey D. Sachs, and John L. Gallup (2000): “Climate, Coastal Proximity, and Development.” In The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography, edited by Gordon L. Clark, Maryann P. Feldman, and Meric S. Gertler, 169–94. New York: Oxford University Press

Miguel, Edward (2004): “Tribe or Nation? Nation-Building and Public Goods in Kenya versus Tanzania” World Politics, Volume 56, Number 3, pp. 327-36

Michalopoulos, S.(2012): “The Origins of Ethnolinguistic Diversity”, American Economic Review 81(1): 1508-39

Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou (2011a): “Divide and Rule or the Rule of the Divided? Evidence from Africa,” NBER Working Paper 17184.

Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou (2011b): “The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa,” NBER Working Paper 17620

Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou (2012): “National Institutions and African Development: Evidence from Partitioned Ethnicities,” NBER Working Paper 18275.

Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou (2013): “Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development” Econometrica, 2013, 81(1): 113–152.

Michalopoulos, S. and E. Papaioannou (2014): “National Institutions and Subnational Development in Africa” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2014, 129 (1): 151-213

Montalvo, José G. and Marta Reynal-Querol (2005). “Ethnic Polarization, Potential Conflict and Civil Wars” American Economic Review, 95(3): 796–816

Murdock, G. P. (1959): “Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History”. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York.

Murdock, G. P. (1967): “Ethnographic Atlas”. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA

Naidu, S., (2010): “Suffrage, Schooling and Sorting in the Post-Bellum U.S. South”, mimeo, Harvard University

Norris, Pippa and Robert Mattes (2003). “Does Ethnicity Determine Support for the Governing Party?” Afrobarometer Paper no. 26

North, Douglass C. (1990): “Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance”. New York: Cambridge University Press

Nugent, Paul (1996): “Arbitrary Lines and the People’s Minds: A Dissenting View on Colonial Boundaries in West Africa,” in Paul Nugent & A. I. Asiwaju (Eds.), African Boundaries (pp. 35-67). London: Pinter

Nunn, N. (2008): “The Long Term Effects of Africa’s Slave Trades,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123(1), 139—176.

Nunn, N. and L. Wantchekon (2011): “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa,” American Economic Review, 101(7), 3221—3252.

Odugbemi, Sina. (1995, April 3). Consensus and Stability. West Africa, 501-503.

Ottaway, Marina. (1999, February 25). Keep out of Africa. Financial Times. Retrieved March 8, 1999, from http://www.ft.com/search9/cgi/vtopic

Posner, Daniel (2004a), “The Political Salience of Cultural Different: Why Chewas and Tumbukas are Allies in Zambia and Adversaries in Malawi”, American Political Science Review (2004), 98: 529-545

Posner, Daniel (2004b), “Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa,” American Journal of Political Science, 48: 849–863

Rainer, Ilia and Francesco Trebbi (2012): “New Tools for the Analysis of Political Power in Africa”, NBER Working Paper No. 18424

Rodrik, Dani, Subramanian, Arvind & Trebbi, Francesco (2004): “Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development,” Journal of Economics Growth 2(6): 131-165

Spolaore, E. and R. Wacziarg (2009): “The Diffusion of Development,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(2), 469—529.

Touval, Saadia (1969): “The Sources of Status Quo and Irredentist Policies,” in Carl G. Widstrand (Ed.), African Boundary Problems (pp. 101-118). Uppsala, Sweden: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies

White, Douglas (1987): “Cross-Cultural Instructional Atlas Cultural Diversity Data Base”; World Cultures Journal Volume 3-2