TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nunn,Nathan
AU  - Puga,Diego
TI  - Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14918
PY  - 2009
Y2  - April 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14918
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14918.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Nathan Nunn
Department of Economics
Harvard University
1805 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-4958
Fax: 617/495-8570
E-Mail: nnunn@fas.harvard.edu

Diego Puga
Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (CEMFI
Casado del Alisal 5,
28014 Madrid
Spain
Tel: +34918073355
Fax: NA
E-Mail: diego.puga@cemfi.es
AB  - There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes or because of its interaction with historical events. Looking at terrain ruggedness, we are able to estimate the importance of these two channels. Because rugged terrain hinders trade and most productive activities, it has a negative direct effect on income. However, in Africa rugged terrain afforded protection to those being raided during the slave trades. Since the slave trades retarded subsequent economic development, in Africa ruggedness has also had a historical indirect positive effect on income. Studying all countries worldwide, we find that both effects are significant statistically and that for Africa the indirect positive effect dominates the direct negative effect. Looking within Africa, we also provide evidence that the indirect effect operates through the slave trades.
ER  -