Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.?
Publication Date: September 2007
Publisher: Brookings Institution
Author(s): Diego Comin; Erick Gong; William Easterly
Research Area: Science and technology; Social conditions
Keywords: global economics; development; global poverty
Type: Report
Abstract:
We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 1000 B.C., 0 A.D., and 1500 A.D. for the predecessors of today's nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today's national development outcomes. Although our strongest results are for 1500 A.D., we find that even technology as old as 1000 B.C. is associated with today's outcomes in some plausible specifications.
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