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We study the effects of pre-colonial institutions on present-day socioeconomic outcomes for Latin America. Our thesis is that more advanced pre-colonial institutions relate to better socioeconomic outcomes today. We advance that pre-colonial institutions survived to our days thanks to the existence of largely self-governed Amerindian communities in rural Latin America. Amerindians groups with more advanced institutional capacity would have been able to organize and defend their interests in front of national governments; leading to better development outcomes for themselves and for the population at large. We test our thesis with a dataset of 324 sub-national administrative units covering all mainland Latin American countries. Our extensive range of controls covers factors such as climate, location, natural resources, colonial activities and pre-colonial characteristics – plus country fixed effects. Results strongly support our thesis.

Purpose: South Africa's educational system made significant advances in financing and improving access to basic schooling since the end of apartheid in 1994. Despite these developments, the Eastern Cape province in general, and the Transkei region specifically, has experienced falling enrolment over the past two decades as thousands of students drop out of school each year. This paper investigates the long-term economic effects of colonial institutions - the Transkei Districts Councils - on primary school enrolment in Eastern Cape Transkeian magisterial districts.
Methodology: This paper investigates the long-term economic effects of colonial institutions, using a fixed effects regression methodology on a panel dataset for the years 2000 to 2013.
Findings: The results show a larger disenrollment trend in districts that received District Council status over a century ago, than those that did not, showing the persistent effect of these political institutions.
Originality/Value: The results imply that disenrollment experienced in the Eastern Cape province is rooted in history. This highlights the importance of economic history in analyzing present day development outcomes.

It has been sixty years since the first sub-Saharan nation declared independence. Over the past three decades, the region has undergone significant changes. Though few, if any, would question that colonial histories shaped African societies, it is unclear to what extent these legacies
continue to be relevant to contemporary inter-group relations. Does it still make sense to speak about colonial legacies? And if so, which ones? This article explores these questions by examining whether ethnic groups who were privileged during the colonial period are more likely to hold political
power decades later. To do so, I conduct a multiple case study analysis of twenty-five sub-Saharan countries from which I create an original dataset of how ethnic groups were positioned during the latter stages of colonialism. With these data, I run auto-regressive logistical models correlating
former colonial position to executive power since independence. I find that many of the assumptions made in the scholarship about the importance of colonial privilege are not supported by these models. However, colonial institutional legacies may still help us understand inter-group dynamics
and be the source of contemporary political grievances.

It has been sixty years since the first sub-Saharan nation declared independence. Over the past three decades, the region has undergone significant changes. Though few, if any, would question that colonial histories shaped African societies, it is unclear to what extent these legacies continue to be relevant to contemporary inter-group relations. Does it still make sense to speak about colonial legacies? And if so, which ones? This article explores these questions by examining whether ethnic groups who were privileged during the colonial period are more likely to hold political power decades later. To do so, I conduct a multiple case study analysis of twenty-five sub-Saharan countries from which I create an original dataset of how ethnic groups were positioned during the latter stages of colonialism. With these data, I run auto-regressive logistical models correlating former colonial position to executive power since independence. I find that many of the assumptions made in the scholarship about the importance of colonial privilege are not supported by these models. However, colonial institutional legacies may still help us understand inter-group dynamics and be the source of contemporary political grievances.

"Several studies link modern economic performance to institutions transplanted by European colonizers and here we extend this line of research to Asia. Japan imposed its system of well-defined property rights in land on some of its Asian colonies, including Korea, Taiwan and Palau. In 1939 Japan began to survey and register private land in its island colonies, an effort that was completed in Palau but interrupted elsewhere by World War II. Within Micronesia robust economic development followed only in Palau where individual property rights were well defined. Second, we show that well-defined property rights in Korea and Taiwan secured land taxation and enabled farmers to obtain bank loans for capital improvements, principally irrigation systems. Our analytical model predicts that high costs of creating an ownership updating system and a citizen identity system discourage a short-sighted government from implementing these crucial components, the absence of which gradually makes land registration obsolete. Third, considering all of Japan's colonies, we use the presence or absence of a land survey as an instrument to identify the causal impact of new institutions. Our estimates show that property-defining institutions were important for economic development, results that are confirmed when using a similar approach with British Colonies in Asia"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

The Irish parliament was both the scene of frequent political battles and an important administrative and legal element of the state machinery of early modern Ireland. This institutional study looks at how parliament dispatched its business on a day-to-day basis. It takes in major areas of responsibility such as creating law, delivering justice, conversing with the executive and administering parliamentary privilege. Its ultimate aim is to present the Irish parliament as one of many such representative assemblies emerging from the feudal state and into the modern world, with a changing set of responsibilities that would inevitably transform the institution and how it saw both itself and the other political assemblies of the day

AbstractSeveral studies link development to institutions transplanted by European colonizers and here we extend this line of research to Asia. Japan imposed its system of well-defined property rights on some of its Asian colonies. In 1939, Japan began to register private land in its island colonies, an effort that was completed in Palau but interrupted elsewhere by World War II. Within Micronesia, robust economic development followed only in Palau where individual property rights were well defined. We show that well-defined property rights in Korea and Taiwan secured land taxation and enabled farmers to obtain bank loans for irrigation systems. Considering Japanese colonies, we use the presence or absence of a land survey as an instrument to identify the causal impact of new institutions. Our estimates show that property-defining institutions were important for economic development, results that are confirmed when using a similar approach with British Colonies in Asia.

The urban area of Bamako is the result of a mixture of Mandingues (West Africa) origins, western thought, hierarchical and colonial thinking, and hygienist environmental management. Directly emanating from the latter logic, the Western anti-leaning institution helped to classify and separate men but also to bring them closer together. Djikoroni replenishes us in the mandingual universe, but does not depart from the modernity of the environment and the confrontation of cultures that the disease has amplified. Analysis of the representations of the disease reveals values of contact (of transmission), of the person and of his or her borders different from the western ones. The notion of "disorder", "adhesive", mediating and/or disruptive value is fundamental; it shall mark: the idea of disease in general and its summum represented by 'the major disease', lethal; the means of treatment; the chronic patient subject to the itinerary and his/her reported social functions. Through the 'Sickness/Lèpre' event and its chronic, serious and stigmatising nature, these differences in cultures, time, places and people combined to enable the injured individual, who is a member of a community, to gain a place within the 'global' society, but the rigidity of the French institutional order and its conjunction with an African society on the move have had and still have a direct impact on health care businesses. ; International audience ; The urban area of Bamako is the result of a mixture of Mandingues (West Africa) origins, western thought, hierarchical and colonial thinking, and hygienist environmental management. Directly emanating from the latter logic, the Western anti-leaning institution helped to classify and separate men but also to bring them closer together. Djikoroni replenishes us in the mandingual universe, but does not depart from the modernity of the environment and the confrontation of cultures that the disease has amplified. Analysis of the representations of the disease reveals values of contact (of transmission), ...

We study the initial expansion of public schooling across Brazilian states (1889–1930) and develop an alternative explanation of how colonial institutions may affect the provision of public goods in the long run. We find that states that exported commodities undergoing international booms, between 1889 and 1930, had significantly larger export tax revenues and could spend more on education, while other states lagged behind. Yet, such positive effect of commodity booms on education expenditures was muted in states that either had more slaves before abolition or cultivated cotton during colonial times.