Did Colonialism Retard Human Resource Development? Theory and Cross-Country Evidence

32 Pages Posted: 7 Jun 2013 Last revised: 8 Jun 2013

Date Written: June 6, 2013

Abstract

It is the central thesis of this paper that imperialism retarded the development of human resources in lagging countries during the century ending in the 1950s. This result is established both theoretically and empirically. Controlling for other factors that might affect stocks of human capital per capita, it is shown that years of schooling per worker as well as literacy rates - in 1965 and 1960 respectively - were significantly higher in countries that were independent in the period preceding 1950 compared to countries that had been colonies in the period before 1950. This result is robust to several changes in specifications, functional forms and sample size.

Keywords: colonialism, human capital, economic development, economic growth, years of schooling, literacy rates, 1950s, 1960, 1965, cross-country, regressions, sovereign countries, open door treaties, dependencies, colonies, discrimination

JEL Classification: O11, O24, I25, O57, P51

Suggested Citation

Alam, Mohammad Shahid, Did Colonialism Retard Human Resource Development? Theory and Cross-Country Evidence (June 6, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2275405 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2275405

Mohammad Shahid Alam (Contact Author)

Northeastern University ( email )

220 B RP
Boston, MA 02115
United States

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