The aim of the project is to re-examine the impact of political institutions on economic development by collecting and analyzing data going back to the early nineteenth century. The central question is whether -- by securing property rights, coordinating investment, or rendering rulers accountable to citizens -- political institutions affect the pace and the patterns of development. The data will cover on an annual basis the period from 1800 to the present for all countries that existed at any time after 1918. These data will combine originally collected information about political institutions and events with economic and social statistics from existing sources. While the impact of political institutions on development has recently become a subject of intensive scrutiny, these studies have not succeeded in resolving problems due to the possibility that institutions may change as a consequence of development. To confront the econometric difficulties arising from the endogeneity of institutions, it is necessary to consider the entire historical experience of each country: its colonial background, if any, the institutional framework inherited or established at independence, the original place of the country in the international division of labor, and the subsequent political and economic transformations. Moreover, since every econometric approach is based on particular assumptions, a variety of techniques must be utilized to assess whether the answers are robust. Broader Impacts The contribution of the project should be threefold. First, it should elucidate the joint dynamics of political institutions and economic development, hence clarifying the role of specific institutional arrangements in promoting or blocking the development of productive inputs and technological change. Secondly, the project will generate a unique database containing detailed information about historical transformations of modern political institutions. This database should be of general interest to researchers seeking to understand the impact of history on subsequent political and economic trajectories of particular countries. Finally, the project should cast light on the policy issues entailed in transferring political institutions to different contexts.
