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Colonialism, European descendants and democracy

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  • Luis Angeles

Abstract

This paper advances that the share of European descendants in the population is a major determinant of democracy in former colo- nial countries. We test this hypothesis using cross-section and panel regressions with 60 developing and developed countries that were once colonies. We nd that the share of European descendants can explain more than half of the di¤erence in measures of democracy between the least and the most democratic countries in our sample. We control for other potential determinants of democracy and test for endogeneity bias using instrumental variables.

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  • Luis Angeles, 2009. "Colonialism, European descendants and democracy," Working Papers 2009_33, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    • Handle: RePEc:gla:glaewp:2009_33
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    Cited by:

    1. Buzasi, Katalin, 2012. "Does colonialism have an impact on the current language situation in Sub-Saharan Africa?," MPRA Paper 42791, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    democracy; European descendants; colonialism.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • N46 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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