The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in sub-Saharan Africa | Zendy

Julia Cagé | Zendy; Valéria Rueda | Zendy

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The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in sub-Saharan Africa

Author(s) -

Julia Cagé,

Valéria Rueda

Publication year - 2016

Publication title -

american economic journal. applied economics

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 12.996

H-Index - 82

eISSN - 1945-7782

pISSN - 1945-7790

DOI - 10.1257/app.20140379

Subject(s) - newspaper , audience measurement , indigenous , protestantism , geocoding , term (time) , printing press , population , politics , capital (architecture) , geography , history , political science , economic growth , business , sociology , advertising , archaeology , cartography , demography , economics , law , ecology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology

This article investigates the long-term consequences of the printing press in the nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa on social capital nowadays. Protestant missionaries were the first to import the printing press and to allow the indigenous population to use it. We build a new geocoded dataset locating Protestant missions in 1903. This dataset includes, for each mission station, the geographic location and its characteristics, as well as the printing-, educational-, and health-related investments undertaken by the mission. We show that, within regions close to missions, proximity to a printing press is associated with higher newspaper readership, trust, education, and political participation. (JEL L82, N37, N77, N97, O17, O43, Z13)

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