Research

Publications

• Myths, Morals, and Movies (circulated as Movies) with Rauh

  • American Economic Review, forthcoming

• • Slides, Code and Data Depository

• Civil War-Induced Displacement and Human Capital  with Chiovelli, Papaioannou, and Sequeira

  • The Quarterly Journal of Economics (2026), Vol. 141 (2) 1211–1268. - IGC funded

  • Code and Data Depository

• Illuminating the Global South, with Chiovelli, Papaioannou, and Tanner 

  • Economic Journal, forthcoming

  • Code and Data Depository - Media: VoxDev

• Ethnographic Records, Folklore, and AI

  • • Handbook of Culture and Economic Behavior, 1st Edition, Volume 1 - September 18, 2026

    • Slides

• Landmines and Spatial Development, with Chiovelli and Papaioannou     

  • • Econometrica, September 2025, Vol. 93 (5), 1739–1778

    • Slides - Website - Code and Data Depository - Media: QUARTZ, VoxDev - PEDL funded

• Religion and Educational Mobility in Africa, with Alesina, Hohmann, and Papaioannou

  • Nature, May 2023, Vol 618, 134–143.

  • Slides - ERC funded - Video: Futurity; Phys.org;

• Folklore with Xue

  • The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Nov 2021, Vol 136 (4), 1993–2046. [lead article]

  • The original  CEPR version here contains additional results.

    • Slides - Video - Media: Barron's; World Bank Blog;

      • Oral Traditions Catalogue - Code and Data Depository

• Intergenerational Mobility in Africa, with Alesina, Hohmann, and Papaioannou

  • Econometrica, Jan 2021, Vol 89(1): 1-35. [lead article]  

    • slides - Code and Data Depository; Media: The Economist, VOXEU podcast

• Historical Legacies and African Development, with Papaioannou

  • Journal of Economic Literature, 2020, 58(1): 53-128.  

    • Media: VoxDev, AEHN

• The Influence of Ancestral Lifeways on Individual Economic Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Putterman and Weil              

  • Journal of the European Economic Association, August 2019, 17(4): 1186–1231.

    • • slides - video - Code and Data Depository;  Media: Vollrath's Blog    

• Spatial Patterns of Development: A Meso Approach, with Papaioannou

  • Annual Review of Economics, 2018 (10): 383-410.  

• Trade and Geography in the Spread of Islam, with Naghavi and Prarolo             

  •  The Economic Journal, Dec. 2018, 128 (616): 3210—3241.  

    • • slides - Code and Data Depository;  Media: VOX, LSE Business Review

• The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa, with Papaioannou                                                                                     

  • American Economic Review, 2016, 106 (7): 1802-1848.                   

    • • Code and Data Depository - slides - video; Media: AEA Research Highlights, Project Syndicate, VOX

  • The Scramble for Africa and its Legacy, The New Palgrave Dictionary in Economics, 2016                                                         

• Ethnic Inequality, with Alesina and Papaioannou

  • Journal of Political Economy, 2016, 124 (2): 428-488.

    • •  Code and Data Depository - slides; Media: The Economist, VOX

• Islam, Inequality, and Pre-Industrial Comparative Development, with Naghavi and Prarolo

  • Journal of Development Economics, 2016, 120: 86-98.

    • • Media: VOX                  

• Climatic Fluctuations and the Diffusion of Agriculture, with Ashraf

  • Review of Economics and Statistics, 2015, Vol. 97 (3): 589-609.

    • • slides; Media: Breviosity              

• On the Ethnic Origins of African Development: Traditional Chiefs and Pre-Colonial Political Centralization,  with Papaioannou             

  • Academy of Management Perspectives, 2015, 29 (1): 32-71.

    • • Media: Cherokee Gothic         

• Financial Innovation and Endogenous Growth, with Laeven and Levine

  • Journal of Financial Intermediation, 2015, 24 (1): 1-24. [lead article] 

    • • slides

• Further Evidence on the Link between Pre-Colonial Political Centralization and Comparative Economic Development in Africa, with Papaioannou          

  • Economics Letters, 2015, 126 (1): 57-62.     

• National Institutions and Subnational Development in Africa, with Papaioannou

  • The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2014, 129 (1): 151-213.

    • • Code and Data Depository - slides; Media: VOX, WSJ                 

• Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development, with Papaioannou

  • Econometrica, 2013, 81(1): 113-152

    • • Code and Data Depository; 

      • Media:VOX                                                                                                                                                                                           

• The Origins of Ethnolinguistic Diversity                                          

  • American Economic Review, 2012, 102(4): 1508-1539.

    • • slides - Code and Data Depository - Appendix

• Evolution and the Growth Process: Natural Selection of Entrepreneurial Traits, with Galor

  • Journal of Economic Theory, 2012, 147(2): 759-780.          

  • Reprinted in E. Spolaore (ed.), Culture and Economic Growth, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgard Publishing, 2014

Working Papers

• Uprootedness, Human Capital, and Skill Transferability (R&R at the QJE) with Papaioannou, Murard, and Sakalli - NSF funded - NBER wp33586 -  slides

  • AI-generated Podcast  - Media: VoxDev  

  • Dedicated Website                                                               

• American Life Histories, with Lagakos and Voth, NBER wp33373

  • Applied Economics Podcast                                                        

Work in Progress

• Private Colonialism in Africa, with Chiovelli, Le Rossignol, and Papaioannou - ERC funded

• Once a Refugee Always a Refugee, with Papaioannou, Murard, and Sakalli - NSF funded

• Refugees in the Mediterranean: Political Consequences, with Papaioannou, and Logothetis - NSF funded

• Songs of Refugees with Papaioannou - NSF funded

• Sermons, with Elliott Ash and Tiziano Rotesi 

Old Working Papers

• Divide and Rule or the Rule of the Divided? Evidence from Africa                    with Papaioannou - NBER  w17184  - Slides - VOX

• The Evolution of Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Process of Development           with Galor - CEPR No. 6022                                          

• Trade and Geography in the Origins and Spread of Islam, NBER w18438,  with Naghavi and Prarolo

• Emigration During the French Revolution: Consequences in the Short and Longue Durée, NBER w23936, with Franck

  • • Media: VOX