The wealth of subnations: Geography, institutions, and within-country development

I study determinants of economic development in a new dataset covering 1867 subnational regions from 101 countries, focusing on within-country effects of geography and institutions. Several geographic factors have significant explanatory power for within-country differences in per-capita GDP, includ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of development economics 2016-01, Vol.118, p.88-111
Main Author: Mitton, Todd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Development
Economic development
Geography
Government agencies
Institutions
Regions
Studies
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Summary:I study determinants of economic development in a new dataset covering 1867 subnational regions from 101 countries, focusing on within-country effects of geography and institutions. Several geographic factors have significant explanatory power for within-country differences in per-capita GDP, including terrain ruggedness, tropical climate, ocean access, temperature range, storm risk, and natural resources such as oil, diamonds, or iron. Institutions have a significant positive effect on income among subnational regions with greater autonomy, suggesting that strong subnational institutions enhance development when not dominated by national institutions. •I study economic development in a new dataset of 1867 subnational regions.•Many geographic factors help explain within-country differences in development.•Stronger subnational institutions generally are not associated with higher incomes.•Regions benefit from local institutions when not dominated by national institutions.
ISSN:0304-3878
1872-6089
DOI:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.09.002