Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0  
Author-Name: José Antonio Alonso
Author-Workplace-Name: Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Departamento de Economía Aplicada II (Estructura Económica y Economía Industrial)
Title: Colonisation, formal and informal institutions, and development
Abstract: This article analyses current attempts to identify the factors underlying long-term economic
	growth. The author criticises some the arguments and historical proofs in which are
	based the two main explanations which dominate recent literature: the institutional approach
	and those which focus on the importance of geographical factors. Using an approach
	which is deliberately eclectic, the author considers the role of geography, international
	trade, human capital and institutional quality in explaining development. A new
	estimation is carried out through TLSL with instrumental variables. The results of the empirical
	model confirm the central role of institutions in long-term economic growth. However,
	certain geographical conditions also seem to have influenced countries´ possibilities
	of progress. Human capital and trade openness are less robust in explaining economic
	growth.
Keywords: Development, long-term growth, institutional quality, geographical factors, human capital, trade openness.
Creation-Date: 2009 
Length: 41 pages
Number: 0913
X-File-Ref: http://america.sim.ucm.es/repec/ucm/ref/wpaper13-09.txt
File-URL: https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/9572/1/WP_13-09_J.Antonio_Alonso.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: Full text
Handle: RePEc:ucm:wpaper:0913