Political centralization in pre-colonial Africa

Journal of Comparative Economics Vol/Iss. 41(1) Elsevier Published In Pages: 6-21
By Osafo-Kwaako, Philip, Robinson, James A.

Hypothesis

Political centralization will be predicted by population density, frequency of being attacked, and trade in the worldwide sample, but not in the Africa sub-sample.

Note

Authors created an interaction term between an Africa indicator variable and population density, frequency of being attacked, and trade. Being attacked and trade in the Africa sample had no significance, even though significant in the worldwide sample. Population density in Africa resulted in a significant relationship, however, trending in the opposite direction (b= -0.32; p<.01) compared with the whole sample (b= 0.36-0.38; p<.01).

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Ordinary least square regressionSupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Frequency Of Being AttackedIndependentWarfare
Political CentralizationDependentTerritorial Hierarchy
Population DensityIndependentPopulation
TradeIndependentExternal Trade
Africa Control and InteractionLocation