Why Nations Fail

C
HAPTER
 9 : R
EVERSING
 D
EVELOPMENT
Our discussion of the takeover of Ambon and Banda by
the Dutch East India Company and the company’s negative
effect on the development of Southeast Asia follows Hanna
(1978) and particularly Reid (1993), chap. 5. The quotes
from Reid on Tomé Pires are from p. 271; the Dutch factor
i n Maguindanao, p. 299; the sultan of Maguindanao, pp.
299–300. Data on the impact of the Dutch East India
Company on the price of spices come from O’Rourke and
Williamson (2002).
A definitive overview of slavery in African society and the
impact of the slave trade is Lovejoy (2000). Lovejoy, p. 47,
Table 31, reports consensus estimates of the extent of the
slave trade. Nunn (2008) provided the first quantitative
estimates of the impact of the slave trade on African
economic institutions and economic growth. The data on
firearms and gunpowder imports are from Inikori (1977).
The testimony of Francis Moore is quoted from Lovejoy
(2000), pp. 89–90. Law (1977) is a seminal study of the
expansion of the Oyo state. The estimates of the impact of
the slave trade on population in Africa are taken from
Manning (1990). Lovejoy (2000), chap. 8, the essays in
Law (1995), and the important book of Austin (2005) are
the basis for our discussion of the analysis of the period of
“legitimate commerce.” Data on the proportion of Africans
who were slaves in Africa comes from Lovejoy (2000), e.g.,
p. 192, Table 9.2.
Data on labor in Liberia is from Clower, Dalton, Harwitz,
and Walters (1966).
The dual economy idea was developed by Lewis (1954).
Fergusson (2010) develops a mathematical model of the
dual economy. The notion that this was a creation of
colonialism was first proposed in the seminal collection of
essays edited by Palmer and Parsons (1977). Our account
of South Africa is based on Bundy (1979) and Feinstein
(2005).
The Moravian missionary is quoted in Bundy (1979), p.
46, and John Hemming is quoted in Bundy, p. 72. The
spread of land ownership in Griqualand East is from Bundy,
p. 89; the exploits of Stephen Sonjica are from Bundy, p.

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p. 89; the exploits of Stephen Sonjica are from Bundy, p.
94; the quote from Matthew Blyth is from p. 97; and the
quote from a European observer in Fingoland 1884 is from
Bundy, pp. 100–101. George Albu is quoted in Feinstein
(2005), p. 63; secretary for native affairs is quoted from
Feinstein, p. 45; and Verwoerd is quoted from Feinstein, p.
159. Data on the real wages of African gold miners are
from p. 66 of Wilson (1972). G. Findlay is quoted in Bundy
(1979), p. 242.
The notion that the development of the rich countries of
the West is the mirror image of the underdevelopment of
the rest of the world was originally developed by
Wallertsein (1974–2011), though he emphasizes very
different mechanisms than we do.

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