| 1. |
- Hibbs, Douglas A., Jr. 1944, et al.
(författare)
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Geography, Biogeography and Why Some Countries are Rich and Others Poor
- 2004
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the US (PNAS). - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 101(10), s. 3715-3740
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The most important event in human economic history before the industrial revolution was the Neolithic transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to sedentary agriculture, beginning ≈10,000 years ago. The transition made possible the human population explosion, the rise of non-food-producing specialists, and the acceleration of technological progress that led eventually to the industrial revolution. But the transition occurred at different times in different regions of the world, with big consequences for the present-day economic conditions of populations indigenous to each region. In this article, we show that differences in biogeographic initial conditions and in geography largely account for the different timings of the Neolithic transition and, thereby, ultimately help account for the 100-fold differences among the prosperity of nations today. The effects of biogeography and geography on the wealth of nations are partly mediated by the quality of present-day institutions but also are partly independent of institutional quality.
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| 2. |
- Hibbs, Douglas A., Jr. 1944, et al.
(författare)
-
Geography, Biogeography and Why Some Countries are Rich and Others Poor
- 2004
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The most important event in human economic history before the Industrial Revolution was the Neolithic transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to sedentary agriculture, beginning about 10,000 years ago. The transition made possible the human population explosion, the rise of non-foodproducing specialists, and the acceleration of technological progress that led eventually to the Industrial Revolution. But the transition occurred at different times in different regions of the world, with big consequences for the present-day economic conditions of populations indigenous to each region. In this paper we show that differences in biogeographic initial conditions and in geography largely account for the different timings of the Neolithic transition, and thereby ultimately help account for the 100-fold differences among the prosperity of nations today. The effects of biogeography and geography on the wealth of nations are partly mediated by the quality of presentday institutions, but are also partly independent of institutional quality.
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| 3. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971
(författare)
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A Microeconomic Analysis of Institutions
- 2000
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This survey paper has three themes; a microeconomic analysis of institutions, an institutional analysis of microeconomics, and a discussion on the scope for an "institutional microeconomics" that takes insights from psychology and older institutional theory into account. Institutions are defined as the long-run rules of the economy that have the character of public goods and whose main function is the reduction of transaction costs. The institutional requirements for the Walrasian equilibrium and for a cooperative solution in a Prisoner's Dilemma-like game, are thoroughly analyzed. The paper briefly surveys the main results from the OIE and NIE-schools and discusses the possibilities of an interdisciplinarily oriented institutional microeconomics.
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| 4. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Biogeography and Long-Run Economic
- 2000
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transition from a hunter-gather economy to agricultural production, which made possible the endogenous technological progress that ultimately led to the industrial revolution, is one of the most important events in the thousands of years of humankind's economic development. In this paper we present theory and evidence showing that exogenous geography and initial condition biogeography exerted decisive influence on the location and timing of transitions to sedentary 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 biogeographic endowments on contemporary levels of economic development are remarkably strong.
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| 5. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971
(författare)
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Conflict Diamonds
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- "Conflict diamonds" refers to the fatal role that diamonds are believed to have played in several African conflicts. The article analyzes the impact of diamond abundance on economic growth in light of the broader, previously discovered empirical finding of a "curse of natural resources". By extending the theory of appropriative conflict, a predator-prey game is outlined in which a rebel chooses between peaceful production and predation on natural resources controlled by the ruler. It is shown that whereas an increase in natural resources might increase the ruler´s public utility investments, it might also lead to a crowding-out in favor of defense spendings, which depresses growth. As predicted by the model, a cross-country regression analysis suggests that diamond abundance has a "U-shaped" relationship with economic growth.
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| 6. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Congo: The Prize of Predation
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The article analyzes the war against Mobutu (1996-97) and the more recent war (1998-) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with particular attention to greed and grievance as motivating factors in these two wars. Whereas our usage of the term "greed" simply reflects the desire to gain control of natural resource rents, we model "grievance" as deliberate institutional differences, implemented by the ruler, between the formal and informal sectors. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative evidence, we outline a model of a predatory conflict between a kleptocratic ruler and a group of potential predators within a given region. The potential predators choose between peaceful production and predation on the ruling elite, who control the country´s natural resource rents. It is shown that institutional grievance between the formal and informal sectors, along with the relative strength of the ruler's defense, play a key role for the initiation of a war. This observation is used to explain the timing of the two wars analyzed in this article. The model also shows that once a war has commenced, the abundance of natural resources and the ruler´s kleptocratic tendencies determine conflict intensity. This result is also well in line with experience from the most recent Congolese war.
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| 7. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971, et al.
(författare)
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Congo: The prize of predation
- 2004
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Ingår i: Journal of peace research. - : SAGE Publications. - 0022-3433 .- 1460-3578. ; 41:3, s. 321-336
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article analyzes the war against Mobutu (1996-97) and the more recent war (1998-) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with particular attention to greed and grievance as motivating factors in these two wars. Whereas the authors’ usage of the term ‘greed’ simply reflects the desire to gain control of natural resource rents, they model ‘grievance’ as deliberate institutional differences, implemented by the ruler, between the formal and informal sectors. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative evidence, the authors outline a model of a predatory conflict between a kleptocratic ruler and a group of potential predators within a given region. The potential predators choose between peaceful production and predation on the ruling elite, who control the country’s natural resource rents. It is shown that institutional grievance between the formal and informal sectors, along with the relative strength of the ruler’s defense, play a key role for the initiation of a war. This observation is used to explain the timing of the two wars analyzed in this article. The model also shows that once a war has commenced, the abundance of natural resources and the ruler’s kleptocratic tendencies determine conflict intensity. This result is also well in line with experience from the most recent Congolese war.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Olsson, Ola, 1971
(författare)
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Geography and Institutions: A Review of Plausible and Implausible Linkages
- 2003
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, empirical investigations have shown that various aspects of physical geography are closely related to the quality of a country´s economic institutions. For instance, distance from the equator in latitude degrees is positively correlated to both institutional quality and to levels of economic development. In order to reach a better understanding for this type of regularities, this article reviews the growing empirical literature on geography and institutions, as well as a large body of older and newer theoretical works on the social impacts of geography. It is argued that the most plausible candidates for explaining the broadest cross-continental variance in institutional quality are those focusing on historical differences in biogeographical potential for early agriculture and on the importance of disease geography for European colonization strategy.
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| 10. |
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