Quick Econ Nerds video this week.
I originally intended this to be a short, but the cool maps in the papers and the stock footage from Getty convinced me it deserved a longer piece.
The video combines two papers. The first is one I saw back in 2011 in graduate school. I thought it was maybe the coolest paper I’d ever seen, and sure enough it landed in the AER, econ’s top journal:
Michalopoulos, Stelios, and Elias Papaioannou. 2016. “The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa.” American Economic Review 106 (7): 1802–48.
It blends history, geography, and econometrics (always a great combination), to show how Africa’s artificial colonial borders held back development.
To that paper we add a more recent one on how soccer victories shape ethnic identity:
Depetris-Chauvin, Emilio, Ruben Durante, and Filipe Campante. 2020. “Building Nations through Shared Experiences: Evidence from African Football.” American Economic Review 110 (5): 1572–1602.
Let me know in the comments if you like these shorter videos or prefer the usual 12–15 minute format.
