Physiological constraints and the transition to growth: implications for comparative development
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Physiological constraints and the transition to growth : implications for comparative development. / Dalgaard, Carl Johan; Madsen, Jakob B.; Strulik, Holger.
In: Journal of Economic Growth, 2021, p. 241-289.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological constraints and the transition to growth
T2 - implications for comparative development
AU - Dalgaard, Carl Johan
AU - Madsen, Jakob B.
AU - Strulik, Holger
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - It is a well known fact that economic development and distance to the equator are positively correlated variables in the world today. It is perhaps less well known that as recently as 1500 C.E. it was the other way around. The present paper provides a theory of why the ‘latitude gradient’ changed sign in the course of the last half millennium. In particular, we develop a dynamic model of economic and physiological development in which households decide upon the number and nutrition of their offspring. In this setting we demonstrate that relatively high metabolic costs of fertility, which may have emerged due to positive selection towards greater cold tolerance in locations away from the equator, would work to stifle economic development during pre-industrial times, yet allow for an early onset of sustained growth. As a result, the theory suggests a reversal of fortune whereby economic activity gradually shifts away from the equator in the process of long-term economic development. Our empirical results give supporting evidence for our hypothesis.
AB - It is a well known fact that economic development and distance to the equator are positively correlated variables in the world today. It is perhaps less well known that as recently as 1500 C.E. it was the other way around. The present paper provides a theory of why the ‘latitude gradient’ changed sign in the course of the last half millennium. In particular, we develop a dynamic model of economic and physiological development in which households decide upon the number and nutrition of their offspring. In this setting we demonstrate that relatively high metabolic costs of fertility, which may have emerged due to positive selection towards greater cold tolerance in locations away from the equator, would work to stifle economic development during pre-industrial times, yet allow for an early onset of sustained growth. As a result, the theory suggests a reversal of fortune whereby economic activity gradually shifts away from the equator in the process of long-term economic development. Our empirical results give supporting evidence for our hypothesis.
KW - Comparative development
KW - Education
KW - Evolution
KW - Fertility
KW - LONg-run growth
KW - Nutrition
U2 - 10.1007/s10887-021-09193-y
DO - 10.1007/s10887-021-09193-y
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85109329750
SP - 241
EP - 289
JO - Journal of Economic Growth
JF - Journal of Economic Growth
SN - 1381-4338
ER -
ID: 275323275