Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

C
HAPTER
 9 : R
EVERSING
 D
EVELOPMENT
Our discussion of the takeover of Ambon and Banda by the Dutch
East India Company and the company’s negative effect on the
development of Southeast Asia follows Hanna (1978) and particularly
Reid (1993), chap. 5. The quotes from Reid on Tomé Pires are from p.
271; the Dutch factor in Maguindanao, p. 299; the sultan of
Maguindanao, pp. 299–300. Data on the impact of the Dutch East
India Company on the price of spices come from O’Rourke and
Williamson (2002).
A definitive overview of slavery in African society and the impact
of the slave trade is Lovejoy (2000). Lovejoy, p. 47, Table 31, reports
consensus estimates of the extent of the slave trade. Nunn (2008)
provided the first quantitative estimates of the impact of the slave
trade on African economic institutions and economic growth. The
data on firearms and gunpowder imports are from Inikori (1977). The
testimony of Francis Moore is quoted from Lovejoy (2000), pp. 89–
90. Law (1977) is a seminal study of the expansion of the Oyo state.
The estimates of the impact of the slave trade on population in Africa
are taken from Manning (1990). Lovejoy (2000), chap. 8, the essays
in Law (1995), and the important book of Austin (2005) are the basis
for our discussion of the analysis of the period of “legitimate
commerce.” Data on the proportion of Africans who were slaves in
Africa comes from Lovejoy (2000), e.g., p. 192, Table 9.2.
Data on labor in Liberia is from Clower, Dalton, Harwitz, and
Walters (1966).
The dual economy idea was developed by Lewis (1954). Fergusson
(2010) develops a mathematical model of the dual economy. The
notion that this was a creation of colonialism was first proposed in
the seminal collection of essays edited by Palmer and Parsons (1977).
Our account of South Africa is based on Bundy (1979) and Feinstein
(2005).
The Moravian missionary is quoted in Bundy (1979), p. 46, and
John Hemming is quoted in Bundy, p. 72. The spread of land

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ownership in Griqualand East is from Bundy, p. 89; the exploits of
Stephen Sonjica are from Bundy, p. 94; the quote from Matthew Blyth
is from p. 97; and the quote from a European observer in Fingoland
1884 is from Bundy, pp. 100–101. George Albu is quoted in Feinstein
(2005), p. 63; secretary for native affairs is quoted from Feinstein, p.
45; and Verwoerd is quoted from Feinstein, p. 159. Data on the real
wages of African gold miners are from p. 66 of Wilson (1972). G.
Findlay is quoted in Bundy (1979), p. 242.
The notion that the development of the rich countries of the West is
the mirror image of the underdevelopment of the rest of the world
was originally developed by Wallertsein (1974–2011), though he
emphasizes very different mechanisms than we do.

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