History geography and institutions Flashcards
(8 cards)
What are institutions, and why do we study geography?
Institutions are formal/informal rules governing human behaviour. We study history because historical events can help explain variations in civil conflict, governance, and policies
What was MP 2013s observations of pre-colonial history
MP found significant heterogeneity and social complexity in SSA ethnic groups pre-colonization. He found different types of societies within varying complexity (band, state, chiefdoms).
Given the colonial impact, more social complexity saw more complex economies, like divisions of labour, higher productivity, judicial systems,and public goods. Colonists worked via indirect rule, preserved pre-colonial institutions.
Hypothesis: Centralized pre-colonial institutions(Wolof) saw better development today
What were the implcations of the Atlantic slave trade?
The slave trade had a direct correlation to economic growth. Sokoloff and Engerman 2020 argued that initial factor endowments like climate and soil lead to inequality in institutions, and subsequently, long-run development
What were the effects on destination countries?
- The Caribbean had good soil and climate, economies of scale in production and high demand for slave labor, which led to extractive institutions and inequality, impacting their current economy today
- Spanish America had large native populations and minerals, privileged elites reduced settlement and coerced labor, leading to inequality and extractive institutions impacting their current economy today
- In North America, the climate favored smallholder crops like grain, incentives for decentralized production, which saw more equal property rights, leading to more inclusive institutions and subsequently their current economic performance(albeit the south)
what were the effects on orgin countries
Nunn 2008 argued that the disruptive nature of the slave trade led to
- Population loss and ethnic fragmentation
- state collapse
- iron slave cycle (guns traded for slaves, warfare-more slaves)
- Long term -lower trust weaker institions and lower GDP
Final result - negative for destination and origin countries, Europe and Britain experienced city growth, which is positively associated with a number of slave voyages.
What the scramble for Africa, MP 2016’s arbitrary boarders?
In 2016, MP noted that Europeans in the Berlin conference, with minimal knowledge of African ethnic groups, drew arbitrary borders. 40-45% of Africans belong to ethnic groups split by borders
The question arose: the impact of ethnic partitioning on civil conflict.
Method: compare conflict rates in partitioned vs. non-partitioned ethnic homelands; the result was 57% more conflict for partitioned groups.
Abitrary borders = greivieces=weakened state legitimacy=identity based tension=higher violence
History matters
What is geography’s role?
Tropical and natural resource curse:
Make sure to explain in detail:
Tropical disadvantages include
1. Disease burden, human capital, and labor productivity suffer
2. Agricultural productivity goes down
3. Landlocked challenges
natural resource curse
1. Dutch disease, resource-exporting heavy countries appreciate their currency
2.corruption and conflict =resources highly expropiable
3. Stunted institutional development = government revenue goes up means less incentives to tax, citizens expect less from government (public goods e.g.)
How do institutions mediate outcomes?
Institutions mediate outcomes by what type they are, producer or grabber-friendly.
- Producer-friendly: strong rule of law and low corruption, enforceable contracts, resource abundance attract entrepreneurs into production
- Grabber-friendly: weak rule of law, corruption, and malfunctioning democracy. Resources incentivise unproductive activities, extracting scarce entrepreneurial resources out of production into unproductive activities.
