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Geography, biogeography and the international distribution of prosperity
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Geography, biogeography and the international distribution of prosperity
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Douglas A. Hibbs, Jr
*
. & Ola Olsson
**
*
Professor, Department of Economics, Göteborg University, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden;
Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, UCLA, Box 951477, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1477
**
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, Göteborg University, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg,
Sweden
Abstract The Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture, which made possible the rapid technological progress that ultimately led to the Industrial Revolution, is one of the most important events in thousands of years of humankind’s economic development. In this paper we present theory and evidence showing that geography and biogeography exerted decisive influence on the location and timing of transitions to agriculture, to complex social organization and, eventually, to modern industrial production. Evidence from a large cross-section of countries indicates that the effects of geographic and initial biogeographic conditions on present-day levels of economic development are remarkably strong, even when conditioned on institutional arrangements that exert powerful proximate influence on the productivity of nations.
Prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, August 28-31, 2003.
1
This paper is a somewhat more technical version of an article that will appear in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science in a couple of months. It is based on research undertaken for the related article by Hibbs & Olsson “Biogeography and Long-Run Economic Development,” forthcoming in the European Economic Review.
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| | Authors: Hibbs, Douglas. and Olsson, Ola. |
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1
Geography, biogeography and the international distribution
of prosperity
1
Douglas A. Hibbs, Jr
*
. & Ola Olsson
**
*
Professor, Department of Economics, Göteborg University, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg, Sweden;
Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, UCLA, Box 951477, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1477
**
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, Göteborg University, Box 640, 40530 Göteborg,
Sweden
Abstract
The Neolithic transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture, which made
possible the rapid technological progress that ultimately led to the Industrial Revolution, is
one of the most important events in thousands of years of humankind’s economic
development. In this paper we present theory and evidence showing that geography and
biogeography exerted decisive influence on the location and timing of transitions to
agriculture, to complex social organization and, eventually, to modern industrial production.
Evidence from a large cross-section of countries indicates that the effects of geographic and
initial biogeographic conditions on present-day levels of economic development are
remarkably strong, even when conditioned on institutional arrangements that exert powerful
proximate influence on the productivity of nations.
Prepared for delivery at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association,
Philadelphia, August 28-31, 2003.
1
This paper is a somewhat more technical version of an article that will appear in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Science in a couple of months. It is based on research undertaken for the related article by
Hibbs & Olsson “Biogeography and Long-Run Economic Development,” forthcoming in the European
Economic Review.
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