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Table A2: Variable Definitions

Variable Variable Definition Source

Dependent Variables

GR_POOR GDP per capita growth of the lowest income quintile group WDI, Dollar and Kraay (2002)

GINI COEFFICIENT Ratio of the area below the Lorenz Curve, which plots share of population against Dollar and Kraay (2002)
income share received, to the area below the diagonal. It lies between 0 and 1 and is
a measure of income inequality.

STANDARD DEVIATION Standard deviation of the income distribution. Assuming that the income distribution is Dollar and Kraay (2002), Besley and Burgess(2003),
lognormal, its standard deviation is given by σ= (2)0.5 *Φ-1[(1+G/100)/2] own calculations
where Φ denotes the cumulative normal distribution function

PRIMARY ENROLMENT Net enrollment ratio is the ratio of the number of children of official school age WDI
(as defined by the national education system) who are enrolled in school to the
population of the corresponding official school age. Based on the International
Standard Classification of Education, 1976 (ISCED76) and 1997 (ISCED97).

INFANT MORTALITY Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, WDI
per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Financial Structure and Macro Variables

GDP/CAP GDP per capita(constant 1995 US$) WDI

GR_GCAP GDP per capita growth(annual %) WDI

PRIVATE CREDIT Claims on private sector by deposit money banks and other IFS, own calculations
financial institutions as share of GDP

SCHOOL60 Secondary school attainment in the year 1960. Barro-Lee dataset

EXPEN General Government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) WDI

INFLATION Inflation calculated from CPI IFS

TRADE Share of imports plus exports in GDP WDI


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Endowment Variables

LATITUDE The absolute value of the latitude of the country, scaled to take values La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
between 0 and 1


Religion Variables

CATHOLIC Catholics as a percentage of population in 1980 La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
MUSLIM Muslims as a percentage of population in 19805 La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
PROTEST Protestants as a percentage of population in 1980 La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
ORELIG Other Religions as a percentage of population in 1980 La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)

Legal Origin Variables

COMMON Legal Origin - British La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
FRENCH Legal origin – French La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
GERMAN Legal origin – German La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
SCANDINAV Legal origin – Scandinavian La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)
TRANSITION Legal origin – Socialist La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer, and Vishny (1999)