Suchergebnisse

Is inequality harmful for economic growth? Is the underdevelopment of Latin America related to its unequal distribution of wealth? A recently emerging consensus claims not only that economic inequality has detrimental effects on economic growth in general, but also that differences in economic inequality across the American continent during the 19th century are responsible for the radically different economic performances of the north and south of the continent. In this paper we investigate this hypothesis using unique 19th century micro data on land ownership and political office holding in the state of Cundinamarca, Colombia. Our results shed considerable doubt on this consensus. Even though Cundinamarca is indeed more unequal than the Northern United States at the time, within Cundinamarca municipalities that were more unequal in the 19th century (as measured by the land gini) are more developed today. Instead, we argue that political rather than economic inequality might be more important in understanding long-run development paths and document that municipalities with greater political inequality, as measured by political concentration, are less developed today. We also show that during this critical period the politically powerful were able to amass greater wealth, which is consistent with one of the channels through which political inequality might affect economic allocations. Overall our findings shed doubt on the conventional wisdom and suggest that research on long-run comparative development should investigate the implications of political inequality as well as those of economic inequality.

Las políticas hostiles hacia la educación superior son una característica destacada de los regímenes autoritarios. Estudiamos la captura de la educación superior por la dictadura militar de Augusto Pinochet en Chile después del golpe de 1973. Encontramos tres resultados principales: (i) las cohortes que alcanzaron la edad universitaria poco después del golpe experimentaron una gran caída en la matrícula universitaria como resultado de la reducción sistemática en el número de vacantes para estudiantes entrantes decretada por el régimen; (ii) estas cohortes tuvieron peores resultados económicos a lo largo del ciclo de vida y lucharon por ascender en la escala socioeconómica, especialmente las mujeres; (iii) los niños con padres en las cohortes afectadas también tienen una probabilidad sustancialmente menor de matricularse en la universidad. Estos resultados demuestran que la captura política de la educación superior en las no democracias dificulta la movilidad social y conduce a una reducción persistente en la acumulación de capital humano, incluso después de la democratización. ; Hostile policies towards higher education are a prominent feature of authoritarian regimes. We study the capture of higher education by the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile following the 1973 coup. We find three main results: (i) cohorts that reached college age shortly after the coup experienced a large drop in college enrollment as a result of the systematic reduction in the number of openings for incoming students decreed by the regime; (ii) these cohorts had worse economic outcomes throughout the life cycle and struggled to climb up the socioeconomic ladder, especially women; (iii) children with parents in the affected cohorts also have a substantially lower probability of college enrollment. These results demonstrate that the political capture of higher education in non-democracies hinders social mobility and leads to a persistent reduction in human capital accumulation, even after democratization.

Aprovechando la fuerte caída en la matrícula universitaria que experimentaron las cohortes que alcanzaron la edad universitaria después del golpe militar de 1973 en Chile, se estudio el efecto causal de la educación superior sobre la mortalidad. Utilizando microdatos de las estadísticas vitales para 1994-2017, documentamos un aumento en la tasa de mortalidad anual ajustada por edad entre las cohortes afectadas. Aprovechando el problema de la matrícula universitaria, estimamos un efecto negativo de la universidad sobre la mortalidad, que es mayor para los hombres, pero también considerable para las mujeres. Los resultados intermedios del mercado laboral (por ejemplo, la participación en la fuerza laboral) explican el 30% de la reducción de la mortalidad. También está presente un giro ascendente similar en la mortalidad en múltiples horizontes de tiempo entre los pacientes hospitalizados en las cohortes afectadas, con características observables (es decir, diagnóstico, hospital, seguro) que explican más del 40%. Las respuestas de la encuesta revelan que la universidad mejora sustancialmente el acceso a la atención médica privada, pero tiene efectos mixtos sobre los comportamientos relacionados con la salud. ; We exploit the sharp downward kink in college enrollment experienced by cohorts reaching college age after the 1973 military coup in Chile to study the causal effect of higher education on mortality. Using micro-data from the vital statistics for 1994-2017, we document an upward kink in the age-adjusted yearly mortality rate among the affected cohorts. Leveraging the kink in college enrollment, we estimate a negative effect of college on mortality, which is larger for men, but also sizable for women. Intermediate labor market outcomes (e.g., labor force participation) explain 30% of the reduction in mortality. A similar upward kink in mortality over multiple time horizons is also present among hospitalized patients in the affected cohorts, with observable characteristics (i.e. diagnostic, hospital, insurance) explaining over 40%. Survey responses reveal that college substantially improves access to private health care, but has mixed effects on health behaviors.

We show that exposure to repression under dictatorship increases support for democracy and contributes to regime change when a democratic window of opportunity arises. Studying the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, we exploit the fact that the predetermined location of military bases predicts local levels of civilian victimization, but is unrelated to historical political preferences. Using two-stage least squares, we show that increased exposure to repression during the dictatorship led to higher voter registration and higher opposition to Pinochet's continuation in power in the 1988 plebiscite that triggered the democratic transition. Complementary survey data confirms that individuals with greater exposure to repression during the military regime continue to have stronger preferences for democracy. However, exposure to repression does not affect election outcomes after democratization.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- I History -- 1 The Impact of Administrative Power on Political and Economic Developments: Toward a Political Economy of Implementation -- 2 The Institutional Origins of the Industrial Revolution -- 3 Institutions and the Resource Curse in Early Modern Spain -- 4 Slavery, Inequality, and Economic Development in the Americas: An Examination of the Engerman-Sokoloff Hypothesis -- 5 Economic and Political Inequality in Development: The Case of Cundinamarca, Colombia -- II Theory -- 6 The Constitutional Choice of Bicameralism -- 7 Economic Development, Insurgency, and Civil War -- 8 Party Discipline and Pork-Barrel Politics -- 9 Policy Persistence in Multiparty Parliamentary Democracies -- III Contemporary Evidence -- 10 Formalizing Informal Institutions -- 11 Making Autocracy Work -- 12 Democracy, Technology, and Growth -- 13 The Growth Effect of Democracy: Is It Heterogenous and How Can It Be Estimated? -- List of Contributors -- Author Index -- Subject Index