Abstract

Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001) established that economic institutions today are correlated with expected mortality of European colonialists. David Albouy argues this relationship is not robust. He drops all data from Latin America and much of the data from Africa, making up almost 60 percent of our sample, despite much information on the mortality of Europeans in those places during the colonial period. He also includes a “campaign” dummy that is coded inconsistently; even modest corrections undermine his claims. We also show that limiting the effect of outliers strengthens our results, making them robust to even extreme versions of Albouy's critiques. (JEL D02, E23, F54, I12, N40, O43, P14)

Keywords

OutlierColonialismLimitingEconomicsLatin AmericansSample (material)Empirical evidenceEconometricsPolitical scienceLawStatisticsMathematicsPhilosophy

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Publication Info

Year
2012
Type
article
Volume
102
Issue
6
Pages
3077-3110
Citations
6130
Access
Closed

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Daron Acemoğlu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson (2012). The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation: Reply. American Economic Review , 102 (6) , 3077-3110. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.6.3077

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DOI
10.1257/aer.102.6.3077