History Matters: The Long-Term Impact of Colonial Public Investments in French West Africa
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 1,
no. 2, April 2009
(pp. 176-215)
Abstract
To what extent do colonial public investments continue to influence current regional inequalities in French-speaking West Africa? Using a new database and the spatial discontinuities of colonial investment policy, this paper gives evidence that early colonial investments had large and persistent effects on current outcomes. The nature of investments also matters. Current educational outcomes have been more specifically determined by colonial investments in education rather than health and infrastructures, and vice versa. I show that a major channel for this historical dependency is a strong persistence of investments; regions that got more at the early colonial times continued to get more. (JEL H41, H54, N37, N47, 016)Citation
Huillery, Elise. 2009. "History Matters: The Long-Term Impact of Colonial Public Investments in French West Africa." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1 (2): 176-215. DOI: 10.1257/app.1.2.176JEL Classification
- H41 Public Goods
- H54 National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: Infrastructures; Other Public Investment and Capital Stock
- N37 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Religion: Africa; Oceania
- N47 Economic History: Government, War, Law, and Regulation: Africa; Oceania
- O16 Economic Development: Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
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