TY  - BOOK
AU  - Mitchener,Kris James
AU  - McLean,Ian W.
ED  - National Bureau of Economic Research.
TI  - The Productivity of U.S. States Since 1880
T2  - NBER working paper series
PY  - 2003///
CY  - Cambridge, Mass.
PB  - National Bureau of Economic Research
N1  - January 2003; Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers
N2  - This study uses state-level variation in labor productivity levels at twenty-year intervals between 1880 and 1980 to examine the relative importance of institutional and geographical influences in explaining observed and persistent differences in standards of living over time and across regions. Focusing on fundamental rather than proximate influences, we find that both institutional characteristics and some physical geography characteristics account for a high proportion of the differences in state productivity levels: states with navigable waterways, a large minerals endowment, and no slaves in 1860, on average, had higher labor productivity levels throughout the sample period. However, we find little support for two other influences that have previously received attention    climate and latitude
UR  - https://www.nber.org/papers/w9445
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w9445
ER  -