Explaining long-run economic development in Africa: do initial conditions matter?

It is well known that Africa is the poorest region in the world in terms of income levels per head of the population and also, on average, the slowest growing continent of the world. However, these averages hide an enormous within-Africa diversity both in economic performance and in economic fundamentals. This thesis focuses on this diversity as we analyse institutional and economic developments for the majority of the African countries from a historical perspective, based on data from anthropological and colonial records. The main question we are trying to answer is how early (pre-) colonial institutions play a role in explaining long-term institutional and eco¬nomic developments in Africa.