12.9 Lab: Data

The data is Nunn_Wantchekon_AER_2011.dta. You can download it on Nathanial Nunn’s website. It contains many variables but we’ll only speak about a few in the lab session.

  • Data and files available under the link given in Section 1.3.

  • respno: Respondent number in Afrobarometer dataset

  • murdock_name: Ethnicity name: from Murdock

  • exports: (Atlantic+Indian Exports)

  • ln_exports: ln(1+Atlantic+Indian Exports)

  • trust_relatives: Trust of relatives: q84a

  • trust_neighbors: Trust of neighbors: q84b

  • intra_group_trust: Intra-group trust: q84d

  • inter_group_trust: Inter-group trust: q84c

  • trust_local_council: Trust of local government council: q55d

  • distsea: Historic distance from coast 1000s kms

  • ethnicity: Ethnicity name: from Afrobarometer q79

  • isocode: Country 3 digit iso code

  • region: Region: from Afrobarometer

  • district: District: from Afrobarometer

  • townvill: Town/village: from Afrobarometer

  • location_id: Unique location-of-repondent identifier - based on isocode region district townv

  • ln_export_area: Log [(total slave exports: Atlantic + Indian) / area (km^2)

  • export_area: (total slave exports: Atlantic + Indian) / area (km^2)

  • export_pop: Exports divided by historic Murdock population

  • ln_export_pop: Ln (1+exports/Murdock historic population)

  • age: Age: q1

  • age2: Age squared

  • male: Indicator for respondent being male: q101

  • urban_dum: Indicator for respondent living in urban area

  • occupation: Occupation categories: q95

  • religion: Religion categories: q91

  • living_conditions: Living condition categories:q4b

  • education: Education categories: Afrobarometer q90

  • near_dist: Current distance from coast 1000s kms

  • loc_murdock_name: Murdock identifier for the current location of the respondent

  • loc_ln_export_area: Slave exports measure based on current location of respondent

  • local_council_performance: Perceived performance of local council: q68c

  • council_listen: Does the local council listen: q62b

  • corrupt_local_council: How much corruption in local council: q56c

  • school_present: Is there a school in the PSU: q116b

  • electricity_present: Is there electricity in the PSU: q116d

  • piped_water_present: Is there piped water in the PSU: q116e

  • sewage_present: Is there sewage in the PSU: q116f

  • health_clinic_presesnt: Is there a health clinic in the PSU: q116g

  • district_ethnic_frac: District-level ethnic fractionalization

  • frac_ethnicity_in_district: Proportion of ethnic group in district

  • townvill_nonethnic_mean_exports: Avg slave exports of other ethnicities within town/village

  • district_nonethnic_mean_exports: Avg slave exports of other ethnicities within district

  • region_nonethnic_mean_exports: Avg slave exports of other ethnicities within region

  • country_nonethnic_mean_exports: Avg slave exports of other ethnicities within country

  • murdock_centr_dist_coast: Historic distance of ethnicity’s centroid from the coast (in kms)

  • centroid_lat: Historic latitude of centroid of ethnic group

  • centroid_long: Historic longitude of centroid of ethnic group

  • explorer_contact: Indicator for historic contact with European explorer

  • railway_contact: Indicator variable for historic integration into the colonial railway network

  • dist_Saharan_node: Historic distance of ethnicity’s centroid from a centroid (town) in Saharan trad

  • dist_Saharan_line: Historic distance of ethnicity’s centroid from a line (route) in Saharan trade (

  • malaria_ecology: Ethnic groups average malaria ecology measure

  • v30: Pre-colonial settlement patterns of ethnicity: from Ethngraphic Atlas v30

  • v33: Pre-colonial juris. hierarchy beyond the local community: Ethnographic Atlas v33

  • fishing: Pre-colonial reliance on fishing: Ethnographic Atlas

  • total_missions_area: Total Catholic + Protestant mission per land area

  • ln_init_pop_density: Log population density during the colonial period - from Murdock

  • cities_1400_dum: Indicator for existence of city among ethnic group in 1400