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Australia and New Zealand; until 1800s the tropical parts of Africa were
richer than South Africa.
Thirdly, they argue that it is not because of diseases that Africa is in
poverty but it is African poverty that causes diseases. They say that
even England had many diseases in the 19th century but it had
eradicated these diseases by improving sanitation and Africa could do
the same if they became richer.
Finally, they argue that poor agricultural productivity in Africa is not
caused by a poor quality of the African soil: rather it is the
consequence of the of the poor institutions such as non-secure
property rights and the poor incentives it creates for farmers to invest
and improve the land.
So how do Acemoglu and Robinson explain the fact that temperate
areas grew much faster than tropical areas after 1820? Well, they say
that, in the centuries that preceded 1820, temperate areas were more
sparsely populated and had less malaria and yellow fever than tropical
areas. That implied that Europe sent settlers and implanted good
institutions in the temperate areas, it implanted bad institutions in the
tropical areas; and that, not geography, can explain their different
growth performance.
Institutionalist view on Culture argument
Supporters of the institutions view dont think that religion matters for
growth. According to Acemoglu and Robinsons, the Middle East is not
poor because Islam is bad for growth but because it inherited bad
institutions from the Ottoman Empire.
Finally, supporters of the institution argument do think that trust is
important for growth. But they believe that trust is a result of the type
of institutions a country has. They argue that if institutions such as the
judiciary is corrupt and not efficient, then people will not be likely to
trust one another as contracts are not always guaranteed to be
protected by the law.
First Critique of the institution view
There are two main critiques of the institution argument for a
fundamental cause of growth. The first one being that, people have
criticized the reasons the institution argument puts forward for the