Inequality in landownership, the emergence of human-capital promoting institutions, and the great divergence

This paper suggests that inequality in the distribution of landownership adversely affected the emergence of human-capital promoting institutions (e.g. public schooling), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Review of economic studies 2009, Vol.76 (1), p.143-179
Main Authors: Galor, Oded, Moav, Omer, Vollrath, Dietrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Bildungsinvestition
D02
D31
Economic theory
Economics
Education expenditures
Educational reform
Entwicklung
Equal education
Farms
Generation
Grundbesitz
Human capital
I21
Income
Income inequality
Inequality
Investition
Land economics
Landowners
N31
Soziale Ungleichheit
Studies
Theorie
USA
Wirtschaftswachstum
Öffentliche Ausgaben
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Summary:This paper suggests that inequality in the distribution of landownership adversely affected the emergence of human-capital promoting institutions (e.g. public schooling), and thus the pace and the nature of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, contributing to the emergence of the great divergence in income per capita across countries. The prediction of the theory regarding the adverse effect of the concentration of landownership on education expenditure is established empirically based on evidence from the beginning of the 20th century in the U.S.
ISSN:0034-6526
0034-6527
1467-937X
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-937x.2008.00506.x