Instrumental Variables (IV)

Do good institutions make countries richer? This Python tutorial revisits the 2001 study by Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson, which uses death rates of early European settlers in 64 former colonies to isolate the effect of institutions, and shows that a simple comparison understates that effect. It comes with an interactive app that runs in your web browser.

Do good institutions make countries richer? Following the 2001 study by Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson in Stata, we use the death rates of early European settlers in 64 former colonies as a natural experiment, and find an effect much larger than a simple comparison suggests. The tutorial includes an interactive app that runs in your web browser.

Does an economic downturn make civil conflict more likely? Using yearly data on more than 5,000 African regions in Stata, we treat rainfall shocks as a natural experiment for local economic activity, measured by night lights seen from space, and find that economic decline raises the risk of conflict. It comes with an interactive app that runs in your web browser.