Further evidence on the link between pre-colonial political centralization and comparative economic development in Africa

Michalopoulos, S and Papaioannou, E (2015) Further evidence on the link between pre-colonial political centralization and comparative economic development in Africa. Economics Letters, 126 (Jan). pp. 57-62. ISSN 0165-1765

Abstract

We examine the link between pre-colonial statehood and contemporary regional African development, as reflected in satellite images on light density at night. We employ a variety of historical maps to capture the former. Our within-country analysis reveals a strong positive correlation between pre-colonial political centralization and contemporary development (and urbanization). If anything, the association strengthens when we account for measurement error on the historical maps of pre-colonial political organization.