Now showing items 1-20 of 37

    • A Microeconomic Analysis of Institutions 

      Olsson, Ola (2000)
      This survey paper has three themes; a microeconomic analysis of institutions, an institutional analysis of microeconomics, and a discussion on the scope for an "institutional microeconomics" that takes insights ...
    • A Western Reversal since the Neolithic? The long-run impact of early agriculture 

      Olsson, Ola; Paik, Christopher (2013-01)
      While it is widely believed that regions which experienced a transition to Neolithic agriculture early also become institutionally and economically more advanced, many indicators suggest that within the Western agricultural ...
    • After Janjaweed? Socioeconomic Impacts of the Conflict in Darfur 

      Olsson, Ola (2010-01-29)
      In this article, we use a unique database on 542 villages in southwestern Darfur to analyze patterns of population growth and land reallocation that have emerged as a consequence of the recent conflict. Our analysis ...
    • Biogeography and Long-Run Economic 

      A. Hibbs Jr., Douglas; Olsson, Ola (2000)
      The transition from a hunter-gather economy to agricultural production, which made possible the endogenous technological progress that ultimately led to the industrial revolution, is one of the most important events in ...
    • Conditional Persistence? Historical Disease Exposure and Government Response to COVID-19 

      Lindskog, Annika; Olsson, Ola (University of Gothenburg, 2023-08)
      In this paper, we investigate differences in government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the theory of the Behavioral Immune System and the Parasite Stress Theory, we hypothesize that a higher historical ...
    • Conflict Diamonds 

      Olsson, Ola (2003)
      ’Conflict diamonds’ refers to the fatal role that diamonds are believed to have played in several African conflicts. The article analyzes the impact of diamond abundance on economic growth in light of the broader, previously ...
    • Congo: The Prize of Predation 

      Congdon, Heather; Olsson, Ola (2003)
      The article analyzes the war against Mobutu (1996-97) and the more recent war (1998-) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with particular attention to greed and grievance as motivating factors in these two wars. Whereas ...
    • Country Size and the Rule of Law: Resuscitating Montesquieu 

      Olsson, Ola; Hansson, Gustav (2006)
      The political and economic impact of country size has been a frequently discussed issue in social science. In accordance with the general hypothesis of Montesquieu, this paper demonstrates that there is a robust negative ...
    • Endogenous Institutional Change After Independence 

      Olsson, Ola; Congdon Fors, Heather (2005)
      A key event in economic history was the independence of nearly ninety former colonies after World War II. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative evidence, we argue that independence often constituted an institutional ...
    • Ethnic Cleansing or Resource Struggle in Darfur? An empirical analysis 

      Olsson, Ola; Siba, Eyerusalem (2009-12-09)
      The con ict in Darfur has been described both as an ethnic cleansing campaign, carried out by the Sudanese government and its allied militias, and as a local struggle over dwindling natural resources between African ...
    • Geography and Institutions: A Review of Plausible and Implausible Linkages 

      Olsson, Ola (2003)
      In recent years, empirical investigations have shown that various aspects of physical geography are closely related to the quality of a country’s economic institutions. For instance, distance from the equator in latitude ...
    • Geography, Biogeography and Why Some Countries are Rich and Others Poor 

      Olsson, Ola; Hibbs, Jr., Douglas A. (2004)
      The most important event in human economic history before the Industrial Revolution was the Neolithic transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to sedentary agriculture, beginning about 10,000 years ago. The ...
    • Land Property Rights, Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Panel 1000-2015 CE 

      D’Arcy, Michelle; Nistotskaya, Marina; Olsson, Ola (2021-03)
      Since the transition to agricultural production, property rights to land have been a key institution for economic development. Clearly defined land rights provide economic agents with increased access to credit, secure ...
    • Land Property Rights, Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Panel 1000-2015 CE 

      D´Arcy, Michelle; Nistotskaya, Marina; Olsson, Ola (University of Gothenburg, 2021-03)
      Since the transition to agricultural production, property rights to land have been a key institution for economic development. Clearly defined land rights provide economic agents with increased access to credit, secure ...
    • Land Property Rights, Cadasters and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Panel 1000-2015 CE 

      D’Arcy, Michelle; Nistotskaya, Marina; Olsson, Ola (2021)
      Since the transition to agricultural production, property rights to land have been a key institution for economic development. Clearly defined land rights provide economic agents with increased access to credit, secure ...
    • Long-Run Cultural Divergence: Evidence From the Neolithic Revolution 

      Olsson, Ola; Paik, Christopher (2015-05)
      This paper investigates the long-run infuence of the Neolithic Revolution on contemporary cultural norms and institutions as reflected in the dimension of collectivism-individualism. We outline an agricultural origins-model ...
    • On the Institutional Legacy of Mercantilist and Imperialist Colonialism 

      Olsson, Ola (2007-03-07)
      The article features a temporal approach to modelling the social impact of Western colonialism. We collect a data set for all former colonies and dependencies that are regarded as countries today (143 observations). Our ...
    • Origins of the Sicilian Mafia: The Market for Lemons 

      Dimico, Arcangelo; Isopi, Alessia; Olsson, Ola (2012-05)
      Since its first appearance in the late 1800s, the origins of the Sicilian mafia have remained a largely unresolved mystery. Both institutional and historical explanations have been proposed in the literature through the ...
    • Perspectives on knowledge and growth 

      Olsson, Ola (2000)
    • Pharaoh´s Cage: Environmental Circumscription and Appropriability in Early State Development 

      Mayoral, Laura; Olsson, Ola (2019-11)
      What explains the origins and survival of the first states around five thousand years ago? In this research, we focus on the role of productivity shocks for early state development in a single region: ancient Egypt. We ...