@techreport{NBERw12657,
 title = "Was the Wealth of Nations Determined in 1000 B.C.?",
 author = "Diego Comin and William Easterly and Erick Gong",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "12657",
 year = "2006",
 month = "October",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w12657",
 abstract = {We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 1000 B.C., 0 A.D., and 1500 A.D. for the predecessors to today's nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today's national development outcomes. Although our strongest results are for 1500 A.D., we find that even technology as old as 1000 BC matters in some plausible specifications.},
}