Browsing by Author "Olsson, Ola"

Now showing items 21-37 of 37

    • Quantifying Ethnic Cleansing: An Application to Darfur 

      Olsson, Ola; Valsecchi, Michele (2010-12)
      This paper has two objectives: First, to develop and critically examine various measures of ethnic cleansing on the basis of a review of the existing literature. Second, to apply the suggested measures to a unique sample ...

    • Reference-Dependent Utility in an Industrial Cluster 

      Olsson, Ola (2003)
      This article tries to explain the exceptional levels of knowledge creation in certain industrial clusters, levels that are seemingly higher than what is implied by the usual models of atomistic agents who do not internalize ...

    • Resource Conflict in Vulnerable Environments: Three Models Applied to Darfur 

      Olsson, Ola (2008-10-23)
      A recurring argument in the global debate is that climate deteriora- tion is likely to make social conflicts over dwindling natural resources more common in the future. In this paper, we present a modelling framework ...

    • Resource Windfalls and Local Government Behavior: Evidence from a Policy Reform in Indonesia 

      Olsson, Ola; Valsecchi, Michele (2015-11)
      We analyze the impact of a natural experiment in Indonesia that allocated certain district governments with a windfall revenue from natural resource production. Our identification is based on a comparison between bordering ...

    • Roman Roads to Prosperity: Persistence and Non-Persistence of Public Goods Provision 

      Dalgaard, Carl-Johan; Kaarsen, Nicolai; Olsson, Ola; Selaya, Pablo (2018-02)
      How persistent is public goods provision in a comparative perspective? We explore the link between infrastructure investments made during antiquity and the presence of infrastructure today, as well as the link between early ...

    • The Roots of Ethnic Diversity 

      Ahlerup, Pelle; Olsson, Ola (2007-12-14)
      The level of ethnic diversity is believed to have significant consequences for economic and political development within countries. In this article, we provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of the determinants ...

    • Social Capital vs Institutions in the Growth Process 

      Ahlerup, Pelle; Olsson, Ola; Yanagizawa, David (2007-03-08)
      Is social capital always important for economic growth? A number of recent micro studies suggest that interpersonal trust and social capital will have its greatest impact on economic performance when court institutions ...

    • State History and Economic Development: Evidence from Six Millennia 

      Borcan, Oana; Olsson, Ola; Putterman, Louis (2014-08)
      All since the rise of the first civilizations, economic development has been closely intertwined with the evolution of states. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on state history and long-run economic development ...

    • Sustainable Economic Growth: A Critical Assessment of SDG 8.1 

      Ahlerup, Pelle; Olsson, Ola (University of Gothenburg, 2023-04)
      In this report, we focus on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.1, stipulating that countries should pursue real GDP per capita growth rates that are in accordance with their national circumstances and that ...

    • The Origins of Cultural Divergence: Evidence from a Developing Country 

      Hoang-Anh, Ho; Martinsson, Peter; Olsson, Ola (2017-12)
      Cultural norms diverge substantially across societies, often even within the same country. In the present paper, we study the voluntary settlement hypoth- esis, proposing that individualistic people tend to self-select ...

    • The Rise of Neolithic Agriculture 

      Olsson, Ola (2001)
      The article analyzes the economic reasons behind the rise of Neolithic agriculture some 10,000 years ago in consideration of evidence that agri-culture was not associated with increasing standards of living. On the basis ...

    • Tolling on the River: Trade and Informal Taxation on the Congo 

      Olsson, Ola; Eriksson Baaz, Maria; Martinsson, Peter (2016-11)
      It is by now generally agreed that government corruption is a serious impediment to economic growth. An intensive use of informal tolls and bribes on roads and waterways still prevail in several developing countries, ...

    • Transition to Agriculture and First State Presence: A Global Analysis 

      Borcan, Oana; Olsson, Ola; Putterman, Louis (University of Gothenburg, 2018-09)
      It has often been observed that the emergence of states in a region is typically preceded by an earlier transition to agricultural production. Using new data on the date of first state emergence within contemporary countries, ...

    • Unbundling Ex-Colonies: A Comment on Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson 2001 

      Olsson, Ola (2004)
      In this comment on AJR (2001), we argue that a bundling of all former colonies into one ‘colonial’ theory of comparative development is problematic for several reasons. During the mercantilist wave of mainly Latin American ...

    • Why Are Market Economies Politically Stable? A Theory of Capitalist Cohesion 

      Dalgaard, Carl-Johan; Olsson, Ola (2007-12-14)
      The present paper documents that political stability is positively associated with the extent of domestic trade. In explaining this reg- ularity, we provide a model where political cohesion is linked to the emergence ...

    • Why Does Technology Advance in Cycles? 

      Olsson, Ola (2001)
      Long-run technological progress is cyclical because drastic innovations that introduce new technological opportunity are only profitable at times when repeated incremental innovation has nearly exhausted existing technological ...

    • Windfall Gains, Political Economy, and Economic Development 

      Olsson, Ola; Dalgaard, Carl-Johan (2006)
      Natural resource rents and foreign aid have the character of windfall gains that affect economic outcomes both directly and indirectly. Several studies have shown that the indirect effect typically works via institutions ...