Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities PDF Author: Miriam Bruhn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were quot;badquot; in the sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of labor and created extractive institutions, while quot;goodquot; activities created inclusive institutions. The authors show that areas with bad colonial activities have lower gross domestic product per capita today than areas with good colonial activities. Areas with high pre-colonial population density also do worse today. In particular, the positive effect of quot;goodquot; activities goes away in areas with high pre-colonial population density. The analysis attributes this to the quot;uglyquot; fact that colonizers used the pre-colonial population as an exploitable resource. The intermediating factor between history and current development appears to be institutional differences across regions and not income inequality or the current ethnic composition of the population.

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities PDF Author: Miriam Bruhn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 58

Get Book Here

Book Description
Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were quot;badquot; in the sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of labor and created extractive institutions, while quot;goodquot; activities created inclusive institutions. The authors show that areas with bad colonial activities have lower gross domestic product per capita today than areas with good colonial activities. Areas with high pre-colonial population density also do worse today. In particular, the positive effect of quot;goodquot; activities goes away in areas with high pre-colonial population density. The analysis attributes this to the quot;uglyquot; fact that colonizers used the pre-colonial population as an exploitable resource. The intermediating factor between history and current development appears to be institutional differences across regions and not income inequality or the current ethnic composition of the population.

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities PDF Author: Miriam Bruhn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were "bad" in the sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of labor and created extractive institutions, while "good" activities created inclusive institutions. The authors show that areas with bad colonial activities have lower gross domestic product per capita today than areas with good colonial activities. Areas with high pre-colonial population density also do worse today. In particular, the positive effect of "good" activities goes away in areas with high pre-colonial population density. The analysis attributes this to the "ugly" fact that colonizers used the pre-colonial population as an exploitable resource. The intermediating factor between history and current development appears to be institutional differences across regions and not income inequality or the current ethnic composition of the population.

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Studying Development across the Americas

Good, Bad, and Ugly Colonial Activities: Studying Development across the Americas PDF Author: Miriam Bruhn
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Country Population Profiles
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Abstract: Levels of economic development vary widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in different regions of a country, depending on local conditions. Some activities were "bad" in the sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of labor and created extractive institutions, while "good" activities created inclusive institutions. The authors show that areas with bad colonial activities have lower gross domestic product per capita today than areas with good colonial activities. Areas with high pre-colonial population density also do worse today. In particular, the positive effect of "good" activities goes away in areas with high pre-colonial population density. The analysis attributes this to the "ugly" fact that colonizers used the pre-colonial population as an exploitable resource. The intermediating factor between history and current development appears to be institutional differences across regions and not income inequality or the current ethnic composition of the population.

Urbanization and Growth

Urbanization and Growth PDF Author: Michael Spence
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821375741
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Why is productivity higher in cities? Does urbanization cause growth or does growth cause urbanization? Do countries achieve rapid growth or high incomes without urbanization? How can policy makers reap the benefits of urbanization without paying too high a cost? Does supporting urbanization imply neglecting rural areas? Why do so few governments welcome urbanization? What should governments do to improve housing conditions in cities as they urbanize? Are innovations in housing finance a blessing or a curse for developing countries? How will governments finance the trillions of dollars of infrastructure spending needed for cities in developing countries? First in a series of thematic volumes, this book was prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge of the relationship between urbanization and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but it does identify insights and policy levers to help countries make urbanization work as part of a national growth strategy. It examines a variety of topics: the relevance and policy implications of recent advances in urban economics for developing countries, the role of economic geography in global economic trends and trade patterns, the impacts of urbanization on spatial inequality within countries, and alternative approaches to financing the substantial infrastructure investments required in developing-country cities. Written by prominent academics in their fields, Urbanization and Growth seeks to create a better understanding of the role of urbanization in growth and to inform policy makers tackling the formidable challenges it poses.

The Changing Space Economy of City-Regions

The Changing Space Economy of City-Regions PDF Author: Koech Cheruiyot
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319674838
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This book addresses the South African Space Economy and its stark disparities and dualisms through an assessment of the Gauteng City-Region – the largest economic agglomeration in the country and on a continent bedevilled by a myriad of development challenges. The book’s focus on understanding the overall character of Gauteng City-Region’s Space Economy – through data mining/analysis and mapping – comprehensively supplements the Space Economy literature on the region. It covers the disparities exacerbated by an overlay of apartheid planning ideology and top-down regional development based on selective encouragement of manufacturing investments in growth points or poles and how implementation of past policies intended to cure these disparities have yielded mixed results. This book further offers the Gauteng City-Region as a microcosm of the national economy in the form of evident significant placed-based variations in the intensity and character of economic structure that on the one hand enjoys massive agglomeration economies, while on the other, has high levels of poverty and large numbers of people living below the Minimum Living Level. This book should appeal to urban studies specialists, economists and development studies researchers in the Global South.

Less Pretension, More Ambition

Less Pretension, More Ambition PDF Author: Peter van Lieshout
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9089642951
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Ontwikkelingshulp heeft onder de Nederlandse bevolking nog altijd een groot draagvlak, zo blijkt uit opinieonderzoek. Maar de twijfels nemen toe. Ook in de media worden steeds meer vraagtekens geplaatst bij de effecten van hulp. Met name de situatie in Afrika stelt velen teleur. Waarom geven we eigenlijk ontwikkelingshulp, en helpt die hulp? Wat weten we over ontwikkelingstrajecten van landen en over de mogelijkheid daar van buiten aan bij te dragen? Hoe relevant is hulp nog voor ontwikkelingslanden nu andere financiële stromen zoals remittances en buitenlandse investeringen (FDI) door globalisering zijn toegenomen? En heeft beleid gericht op thema's als klimaat, migratie, financiële stabiliteit, kennis, handel en veiligheid niet meer invloed op de ontwikkelingskansen van arme landen? Deze en andere vragen komen aan bod in dit rapport van de Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid. Op basis van bijna vijfhonderd gesprekken in het veld en een uitgebreide bestudering van de literatuur formuleert de WRR aanbevelingen voor forse wijzigingen in de organisatie van ontwikkelinghulp, en voor gestructureerde aandacht voor terreinen die ontwikkelingsrelevant zijn en voor mondiale publieke goederen.

Rent Seeking and the Unveiling of 'de Facto' Institutions

Rent Seeking and the Unveiling of 'de Facto' Institutions PDF Author: Joana Naritomi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Brazil
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
This paper analyzes the roots of variation in de facto institutions, within a constant de jure institutional setting. We explore the role of rent-seeking episodes in colonial Brazil as determinants of the quality of current local institutions, and argue that this variation reveals a de facto dimension of institutional quality. We show that municipalities with origins tracing back to the sugar-cane colonial cycle -- characterized by a polarized and oligarchic socioeconomic structure -- display today more inequality in the distribution of land. Municipalities with origins tracing back to the gold colonial cycle -- characterized by an over-bureaucratic and heavily intervening presence of the Portuguese state -- display today worse governance practices and less access to justice. The colonial rent-seeking episodes are also correlated with lower provision of public goods and lower income per capita today, and the latter correlation seems to work partly through worse institutional quality at the local level.

Cuadernos de economía

Cuadernos de economía PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 656

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Book Description


Colonialism and Its Legacies

Colonialism and Its Legacies PDF Author: Jacob T. Levy
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739142941
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Colonialism and Its Legacy brings together essays by leading scholars in both the fields of political theory and the history of political thought about European colonialism and its legacies, and postcolonial social and political theory. The essays explore the ways in which European colonial projects structured and shaped much of modern political theory, how concepts from political philosophy affected and were realized in colonial and imperial practice, and how we can understand the intellectual and social world left behind by a half-millennium of European empires. The volume ranges from the beginning of modernity to the present day, examining colonialism and colonial legacies in India, Africa, Latin America, and North America.

The Penguin History of the United States of America

The Penguin History of the United States of America PDF Author: Hugh Brogan
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141937459
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1232

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Book Description
This new edition of Brogan's superb one-volume history - from early British colonisation to the Reagan years - captures an array of dynamic personalities and events. In a broad sweep of America's triumphant progress. Brogan explores the period leading to Independence from both the American and the British points of view, touching on permanent features of 'the American character' - both the good and the bad. He provides a masterly synthesis of all the latest research illustrating America's rapid growth from humble beginnings to global dominance.