Bandyopadhyay, Sanghamitra and Green, Elliott D. (2012) The reversal of fortune thesis reconsidered. Journal of Development Studies, 48 (7). pp. 817-831. ISSN 0022-0388
Abstract
Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson have claimed that the world income distribution underwent a 'Reversal of Fortune' from 1500 to the present, whereby formerly rich countries in what is now the developing world became poor while poor ones grew rich. We question their analysis with regard to both of their proxies for pre-modern income, namely urbanisation and population density. More specifically, an alternative measure of urbanisation with more observations generates a positive (but not significant) correlation between pre-modern and contemporary income, while a better measure of population density on arable land no longer produces a robust relationship.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fjds20 |
| Additional Information: | © 2012 Taylor & Francis |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions |
| Journal of Economic Literature Classification System: | N - Economic History > N3 - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income, and Wealth > N30 - Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Income and Wealth: General, International, or Comparative (Migration) |
| Sets: | Departments > Economics Departments > International History Collections > Economists Online Research centres and groups > Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Aug 2012 15:44 |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45555/ |
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