Keywords

geography, institutions, development

Abstract

I study determinants of economic development in a new dataset covering 1867 subnational regions from 101 countries, focusing on within-country effects of geography and institutions. Several geographic factors have significant explanatory power forwithin-country differences in per-capita GDP, including terrain ruggedness, tropical climate, ocean access, temperature range, storm risk, and natural resources such as oil, diamonds, or iron. Institutions have a significant positive effect on income among subnational regions with greater autonomy, suggesting that strong subnational institutions enhance development when not dominated by national institutions.

Original Publication Citation

The wealth of subnations: Geography, institutions, and within-country development, 2016, Journal of Development Economics 118, 88–111.