American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in Sub-Saharan Africa
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 8,
no. 3, July 2016
(pp. 69–99)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This article investigates the long-term consequences of the printing press in the nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa on social capital nowadays. Protestant missionaries were the first to import the printing press and to allow the indigenous population to use it. We build a new geocoded dataset locating Protestant missions in 1903. This dataset includes, for each mission station, the geographic location and its characteristics, as well as the printing-, educational-, and health-related investments undertaken by the mission. We show that, within regions close to missions, proximity to a printing press is associated with higher newspaper readership, trust, education, and political participation.Citation
Cagé, Julia, and Valeria Rueda. 2016. "The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in Sub-Saharan Africa." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8 (3): 69–99. DOI: 10.1257/app.20140379Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- L82 Entertainment; Media
- N37 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Africa; Oceania
- N77 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: Africa; Oceania
- N97 Regional and Urban History: Africa; Oceania
- O17 Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
- O43 Institutions and Growth
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
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