Showing papers by "Rafael La Porta published in 2013"
TL;DR: This paper investigated the determinants of regional development using a newly constructed database of 1569 sub-national regions from 110 countries covering 74 percent of the world surface and 97 percent of its GDP.
Abstract: We investigate the determinants of regional development using a newly constructed database of 1569 sub-national regions from 110 countries covering 74 percent of the world’s surface and 97 percent of its GDP. We combine the cross-regional analysis of geographic, institutional, cultural, and human capital determinants of regional development with an examination of productivity in several thousand establishments located in these regions. To organize the discussion, we present a new model of regional development that introduces into a standard migration framework elements of both the Lucas (1978) model of the allocation of talent between entrepreneurship and work, and the Lucas (1988) model of human capital externalities. The evidence points to the paramount importance of human capital in accounting for regional differences in development, but also suggests from model estimation and calibration that entrepreneurial inputs and possibly human capital externalities help understand the data.
544 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that the historical origin of a country's laws is highly correlated with a broad range of its legal rules and regulations, as well as with economic outcomes, and presented a unified interpretation of the evidence.
Abstract: In the last dozen years, economists have produced a considerable body of research suggesting that the historical origin of a country’s laws is highly correlated with a broad range of its legal rules and regulations, as well as with economic outcomes. Much of this research has dealt with rules governing investor protection and their effects on financial markets. We summarize this evidence and attempt a unified interpretation. We also address several objections to the empirical claim that legal origins matter.
62 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a newly assembled sample of 1,503 regions from 82 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries, finding that regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital.
Abstract: We use a newly assembled sample of 1,503 regions from 82 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries. Regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital. Regional convergence is about 2.5% per year, not more than 1% per year faster than convergence between countries. Regional convergence is faster in richer countries, and countries with better capital markets. A calibration of a neoclassical growth model suggests that significant barriers to factor mobility within countries are needed to account for the evidence.
23 citations
Posted Content•
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a newly assembled sample of 1,503 regions from 82 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries, finding that regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital.
Abstract: We use a newly assembled sample of 1,503 regions from 82 countries to compare the speed of per capita income convergence within and across countries. Regional growth is shaped by similar factors as national growth, such as geography and human capital. Regional convergence is about 2.5% per year, not more than 1% per year faster than convergence between countries. Regional convergence is faster in richer countries, and countries with better capital markets. A calibration of a neoclassical growth model suggests that significant barriers to factor mobility within countries are needed to account for the evidence.
10 citations