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Conversations with tyler is produced by the mercatus center at george mason university, bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. Today i am chatting with nathan nunn, who is a famous economist, professor at harvard. I think of his main areas as economic development, history and contract enforcement. But he's worked on many additional issues. Tyler: Why does it seem that ethiopia is suddenly so successful in nation building? Nunn: The standard answer would be a history of state formation. And i think there is some validity to us....

Nathan Nunn’s work history includes automotive stores, a freight company, a paint factory, a ski hill, photography, book publishing, private tutoring, and more. Having grown up in a lower-income Canadian family, he recognizes the importance of having multiple pathways to climb the socioeconomic ladder. Now, as a development economist at Harvard, his research investigates how things like history, culture and contract enforcement shape the development paths of nations.

Nathan joined Tyler for a conversation about which African countries a theory of persistence would lead him to bet on, why so many Africans live in harder to settle areas, his predictions for the effects of Chinese development on East Africa, why genetic distance is a strong predictor of bilateral income differences and trade, the pleasant surprises of visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, the role of the Catholic Church in the development of the West, why Canadian football is underrated, the unique commutes of Ottawans, the lack of Canadian brands, what’s missing from most economic graduate programs, the benefits of studying economics outside of the United States, how the plow shaped gender roles in the societies that used it, the cultural values behind South Korea’s success, and more.

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Recorded July 10th, 2020 Other ways to connect

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