|Observations|932|932|577|127|475|64|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|R-squared|0.767|0.765|0.660|0.577|0.762|0.600|
|CountryFE|YES|YES|YES|NO|YES|NO|

The soil‐GDP elasticities are much less consistently significant (see table 4) than the soil‐poverty elasticities. Higher soil quality does not contribute to higher GDP per capita. However, caution is warranted in interpreting these findings, because while the existence of a positive effect, as shown in the poverty example, is a good indication that there are indeed significant relationships, the absence of such may also be due to poor data quality<sup>13</sup> and a small sample size and resulting low powered analysis.

**_Table 4: Dependent Variable – GDP per capita_**

|VARIABLES|(1)<br>OLS|(2)<br>IV|(3)<br>IV - no<br>outlier|(4)<br>IV - SSA|(5)<br>IV- rural|(6)<br>IV- rural<br>SSA|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Top Soil Carbon<br>Precipitation|0.141**<br>(0.0616)<br>-0.104<br>(0.0644)|-0.267<br>(0.239)|-0.576<br>(0.637)|0.512<br>(0.514)|0.568*<br>(0.320)|0.576<br>(0.519)|
|Ruggedness<br>Road Density<br>Share Cropland<br>Share Urban<br>Share Grassland|-0.0820***<br>(0.0181)<br>0.0775*<br>(0.0413)<br>-0.696***<br>(0.164)<br>1.408***<br>(0.383)<br>-0.458*|-0.112***<br>(0.0280)<br>0.0744*<br>(0.0424)<br>-0.811***<br>(0.158)<br>1.197***<br>(0.373)<br>-0.549**|-0.146**<br>(0.0727)<br>0.0493<br>(0.0616)<br>-0.877**<br>(0.387)<br>0.989<br>(0.656)<br>-1.129|-0.124**<br>(0.0582)<br>0.0536<br>(0.223)<br>0.258<br>(0.467)<br>14.04**<br>(6.756)<br>-0.0681|-0.0345<br>(0.0324)<br>0.181***<br>(0.0651)<br>-0.132<br>(0.229)<br>2.774***<br>(0.536)<br>-0.350|-0.151***<br>(0.0578)<br>-0.252**<br>(0.0988)<br>0.405<br>(0.479)<br>11.89***<br>(3.838)<br>0.371|
||(0.268)|(0.264)|(0.757)|(1.565)|(0.417)|(0.831)|
|Share Forest<br>Population<br>soil_type = 2, Andisol|-0.317*<br>(0.170)<br>-0.934***<br>(0.0239)<br>-0.189**<br>(0.0911)|-0.266<br>(0.189)<br>-0.922***<br>(0.0253)<br>0.0211<br>(0.152)|-0.312<br>(0.242)<br>-0.904***<br>(0.0348)<br>0.254<br>(0.366)|0.581<br>(0.512)<br>-1.162***<br>(0.139)|0.340<br>(0.244)<br>-0.929***<br>(0.0361)<br>-0.440**<br>(0.175)|0.687*<br>(0.399)<br>-0.835***<br>(0.0870)|
|soil_type = 3, Ardisol<br>soil_type = 4, Entisol<br>soil_type = 5, Gelisol<br>soil_type = 6, Histosol|-0.103<br>(0.143)<br>-0.0632<br>(0.0727)<br>0.750***<br>(0.190)<br>0.958***<br>(0.127)|-0.199<br>(0.166)<br>-0.0453<br>(0.0761)<br>0.910***<br>(0.204)<br>1.373***<br>(0.276)|-0.243<br>(0.250)<br>-0.126<br>(0.114)<br>0.977***<br>(0.294)<br>1.674***<br>(0.624)|-0.0233<br>(0.112)|0.538***<br>(0.185)<br>-0.0866<br>(0.0816)<br>0.621**<br>(0.298)|-0.272***<br>(0.0645)|
|soil_type = 7, Inceptisol<br>soil_type = 8, Mollisol<br>soil_type = 9, Oxisol<br>soil_type = 10, Rock|0.0135<br>(0.0577)<br>0.0204<br>(0.0529)<br>0.369***<br>(0.128)<br>-0.243<br>(0.310)|0.0905<br>(0.0776)<br>0.0940<br>(0.0666)<br>0.345***<br>(0.131)<br>-0.240<br>(0.320)|0.212<br>(0.193)<br>0.0785<br>(0.0824)<br>0.317*<br>(0.180)<br>-0.384<br>(0.383)|0.0423<br>(0.417)<br>-0.303<br>(0.237)|-0.174**<br>(0.0697)<br>-0.0179<br>(0.0699)<br>0.134<br>(0.145)<br>-1.247***<br>(0.135)|-0.183<br>(0.317)|
|soil_type = 11, Sand|<br>-0.224|<br>-0.271|<br>-0.448|-0.161|<br>0.0726||

13 Finding significant effects despite noisy data is not the epistemological equivalent to not finding significant effects with noisy data.

15