Historical Legacies and African Development

Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

No 25278, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: As Africa's role on the global stage is rising, so does the need to understand the shadow of history on the continent's economy and polity. We discuss recent works that shed light on Africa's colonial and precolonial legacies. The emerging corpus is remarkably interdisciplinary. Archives, ethnographic materials, georeferenced censuses, surveys, and satellite imagery are some of the sources often combined to test influential conjectures put forward in African historiography. Exploiting within-country variation and employing credible, albeit mostly local, identification techniques, this recent literature has uncovered strong evidence of historical continuity as well as instances of rupture in the evolution of the African economy. The exposition proceeds in reverse chronological order. Starting from the colonial period, which has been linked to almost all of Africa's post-independence maladies, we first review works that uncover the lasting legacies of colonial investments in infrastructure and human capital and quantify the role of various extractive institutions, such as indirect rule and oppression associated with concessionary agreements. Second, we discuss the long-lasting impact of the "Scramble for Africa" which led to ethnic partitioning and the creation of artificial modern states. Third, we cover studies on the multi-faceted legacy of the slave trades. Fourth, we analyze the contemporary role of various precolonial, ethnic-specific, institutional and social traits, such as political centralization. We conclude by offering some thoughts on what we view as open questions.

JEL-codes: N00 N10 N77 N87 N97 O10 O43 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-pke
Note: DAE DEV EFG POL PR
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published as Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Historical Legacies and African Development," Journal of Economic Literature, vol 58(1), pages 53-128.

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Journal Article: Historical Legacies and African Development (2020)
Working Paper: Historical Legacies and African Development (2018)
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