10.17889/E110157
Galor, Oded
Özak, Ömer
Replication data for: The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference
ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
2016
10.1257/aer.20150020
10.1257/aer.20150020
V0
This research explores the origins of observed differences in time preference across countries and regions. Exploiting a natural experiment associated with the expansion of suitable crops for cultivation in the course of the Columbian Exchange, the research establishes that pre-industrial agro-climatic characteristics which were conducive to higher return to agricultural investment triggered selection, adaptation, and learning processes that generated a persistent positive effect on the prevalence of long-term orientation in the contemporary era. Furthermore, the research establishes that these agro-climatic characteristics have had a culturally embodied impact on economic behavior such as technological adoption, education, saving, and smoking.