Caicedo, Felipe ValenciaMaloney, William F.2013-01-022013-01-022012-09https://hdl.handle.net/10986/12047Using subnational historical data, this paper establishes the within country persistence of economic activity in the New World over the last half millennium. The paper constructs a data set incorporating measures of pre-colonial population density, new measures of present regional per capita income and population, and a comprehensive set of locational fundamentals. These fundamentals are shown to have explanatory power: native populations throughout the hemisphere were found in more livable and productive places. It is then shown that high pre-colonial density areas tend to be dense today: population agglomerations persist. The data and historical evidence suggest this is due partly to locational fundamentals, but also to classic agglomeration effects: colonialists established settlements near existing native populations for reasons of labor, trade, knowledge and defense. Further, high density (historically prosperous) areas also tend to have higher incomes today, and largely due to agglomeration effects: fortune persists for the United States and most of Latin America. Finally extractive institutions, in this case, slavery, reduce persistence even if they do not overwhelm other forces in its favor.en-USCC BY 3.0 IGOAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTUREAIRAIR CONDITIONINGAIR TRANSPORTARTISANSAVERAGE INCOMEAVERAGE INCOMESAVERAGE SHAREBANKRUPTCYBASIC NEEDSCAPITAL INVESTMENTCENSUSESCIVIL WARCOMMERCECOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGECOMPETITIVENESSCONCENTRATION OF POPULATIONCOUNTRY LEVELCOUNTRY REGRESSIONSCURRENT POPULATIONDATA SETDATA SETSDEPENDENT VARIABLEDEVELOPING COUNTRIESDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT OUTCOMESDEVELOPMENT POLICYDISEASESDRAINAGEDRIVINGECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GEOGRAPHYECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC PERFORMANCEECONOMIC RESEARCHECONOMIC REVIEWECONOMIC STUDIESECONOMICS RESEARCHELASTICITYEMPIRICAL RESULTSEXISTING POPULATIONEXPLANATORY POWEREXPORTSEXTERNALITIESFARMING AREASFINANCIAL SERVICESFOOD PRODUCTIONFUELFUNCTIONAL FORMFUNCTIONAL FORMSGDPGDP PER CAPITAGEOGRAPHICAL CONTROLSGROWTH DYNAMICSGROWTH RATESGROWTH THEORYHEAVY RELIANCEHISTORICAL DATAHOUSEHOLD INCOMEHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSEHOLD LEVELHOUSEHOLD SURVEYSHUMAN CAPITALHUMAN DEVELOPMENTHUMAN SETTLEMENTIMMIGRATIONINCOME DATAINCOME DISTRIBUTIONINCREASING RETURNSINCREASING RETURNS TO SCALEINDIGENOUS PEOPLEINDIGENOUS PEOPLESINDIGENOUS POPULATIONSINDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONINEQUALITYINFORMATION SYSTEMINNOVATIONINSTITUTIONLABOR FORCELAND TENURELARGE POPULATIONLARGE POPULATIONSLEVEL OF DEVELOPMENTLOCAL DEVELOPMENTLOCAL ECONOMYLOCALIZATIONMACROECONOMICSMANUFACTURINGMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIESMARKET SHAREMEAN VALUEMIDDLEMENMODE OF TRANSPORTATIONMONETARY ECONOMICSNATIONAL BOUNDARIESNATIONAL GOVERNMENTNATIONAL GOVERNMENTSNATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURENATIONAL LEVELNATIONAL POLICIESNATIVE POPULATIONNATURAL DISASTERSNATURAL RESOURCENATURAL RESOURCESNEGATIVE COEFFICIENTNEGATIVE COEFFICIENTSNEGATIVE CORRELATIONNEGATIVE IMPACTNEGATIVE RELATIONSHIPNET EFFECTNETWORKSNEW TECHNOLOGIESOPEN ACCESSPATH DEPENDENCEPER CAPITA INCOMEPER CAPITA INCOMESPOLICY DISCUSSIONSPOLICY RESEARCHPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPERPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLITICAL ECONOMY CONSIDERATIONSPOLITICAL POWERPOPULATION CENTERPOPULATION DENSITIESPOPULATION DENSITYPOPULATION ESTIMATESPOPULATION SETTLEMENTSPOSITIVE COEFFICIENTPOSITIVE CORRELATIONPOSITIVE EXTERNALITIESPOSITIVE RELATIONSHIPPRODUCTIVITYPROGRESSPROPERTY RIGHTSPUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONPUBLIC GOODPUBLIC GOODSRAILROADRAILROADSRAILWAYREGIONAL DIFFERENCESREGIONAL LEVELREGIONAL POPULATIONRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POPULATIONRELATIVE IMPORTANCERESPECTRESULTROUTEROUTESSATELLITESEA LEVELSEXSIGNIFICANT CORRELATIONSIGNIFICANT NEGATIVESIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPSITESSOCIAL STRUCTURESPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONTAXTRADE LIBERALIZATIONTRADE POLICYTRANSLATIONTRANSPORTTRANSPORT SERVICESTRANSPORTATIONTRAUMATRUETUNNELVALUE ADDEDWEALTHWEBWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-6187