What are the long-term economic effects of a more equal distribution of wealth? We exploit variation in historical inheritance rules for land in Germany. In some German areas, inherited land was to be shared or divided equally among children, while in others land was ruled to be indivisible....

Chapter 1 Africa on the Rise: Myth or Reality? -- Chapter 2 Prospects of Sustained Economic Growth in Africa -- Chapter 3 Growth, Employment, and Poverty -- Chapter 4 Population, Youth Bulge and Economic Development -- Chapter 5 COVID-19 – Trends, Economic Impact and Policy Responses --...

This paper examines the number of licensed private cars in the economy per unit of GDP, or car intensity, as an intrinsic component of car use that may be underlying the observed peak car phenomenon. Using data on 88 countries from 1950 to 2010, I demonstrate that car intensity evolves in a...

This paper uses a historical setting to study when religion can be a barrier to the diffusion of knowledge and economic development, and through which mechanism. I focus on 19th-century Catholicism and analyze a crucial phase of modern economic growth, the Second Industrial Revolution...