This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

The Macrogenoeconomics of Comparative Development

  • Quamrul H. Ashraf
  • Oded Galor
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 56, no. 3, September 2018
(pp. 1119-55)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

The importance of evolutionary forces for comparative economic performance across societies has been the focus of a vibrant literature, highlighting the roles played by the Neolithic Revolution as well as the prehistoric "out of Africa" migration of anatomically modern humans in generating worldwide variations in the composition of human traits. This essay provides an overview of the literature on the macrogenoeconomics of comparative development, underscoring the significance of evolutionary processes and human population diversity in generating differential paths of economic development across societies. Furthermore, it examines the contribution of Nicholas Wade's recent hypothesis, regarding the evolutionary origins of comparative development, to this important line of research.

Citation

Ashraf, Quamrul H., and Oded Galor. 2018. "The Macrogenoeconomics of Comparative Development." Journal of Economic Literature, 56 (3): 1119-55. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20161314

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • N10 Economic History: Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations: General, International, or Comparative
  • N30 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: General, International, or Comparative
  • O11 Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
  • Z10 Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General