Rent seeking and the unveiling of 'de facto' institutions
Subtitle: development and colonial heritage within Brazil
By: Joana Naritomi, Rodrigo R. Soares, Juliano J. Assunção.
Contributors: Soares, Rodrigo Reis.; Assunção, Juliano J.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 13545.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 13545.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 36
Subjects: Colonies -- Political aspects -- Brazil; Colonies -- Economic aspects -- Brazil; Public institutions -- Brazil; Brazil -- Politics and government -- Colonial influence; Brazil -- Economic conditions -- Colonial influence
Description: This paper analyzes the roots of variation in de facto institutions, within a constant de jure institutional setting. We explore the role of rent-seeking episodes in colonial Brazil as determinants of the quality of current local institutions, and argue that this variation reveals a de facto dimension of institutional quality. We show that municipalities with origins tracing back to the sugar-cane colonial cycle -- characterized by a polarized and oligarchic socioeconomic structure -- display today more inequality in the distribution of land. Municipalities with origins tracing back to the gold colonial cycle -- characterized by an over-bureaucratic and heavily intervening presence of the Portuguese state -- display today worse governance practices and less access to justice. The colonial rent-seeking episodes are also correlated with lower provision of public goods and lower income per capita today, and the latter correlation seems to work partly through worse institutional quality at the local level.
Notes: "October 2007."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-36).

Also available in PDF from the NBER World Wide site (www.nber.org).