This article examines the role of cognitive ability or intelligence on slave exports from Africa. We test a hypothesis that countries which were endowed with higher levels of cognitive ability were more likely to experience lower levels of slave exports from Africa probably due to comparatively...

This paper provides new empirical evidences to the Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s hypothesis that extraction colonies led to the development of poor-quality institutions. To proceed, we use an original dataset that contains a variable measuring the level of colonial extraction. We link this...

This study investigates the relationship between social trust and intelligence. The extreme bound analysis of Levine and Renelt is employed to directly assess the strength of the nexus. The findings confirm the positive and robust nexus between social trust and intelligence. We have contributed...

This paper assesses the determinants of state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa using hitherto unexplored variables in the literature. The previously missing dimension of nation building is integrated and the hypothesis of state fragility being a function of rent seeking and/or lobbying by de...

This study assesses the relationship between tribalism (the tribalism index) and government effectiveness (per the World Bank) in 60 countries using cross-sectional data. This study finds that countries with high tribal populations generally enjoy bad governance in terms of government...

The purpose of this study is to assess the nexus between intelligence (or human capital) and statistical capacity in developing countries. The line of inquiry is motivated essentially by: (i) the scarce literature devoted to elucidating poor statistics in developing countries and (ii) an...

Do women really improve conditions for gender equality after becoming heads of states? This study investigates if having a woman at the helm of country's decision making processes leads to better indicators on women conditions. Using time series observations for the period 2000-2011, we test the...

We assess the correlations between tribalism and financial development in 123 countries using data averages from 2000-2010. The tribalism index is used to measure tribalism whereas financial development is measured from perspectives of financial intermediary and stock market developments. The...