What forces drive regional economic divergence? This study identifies colonial-era missions as an institutional force in shaping economic relations in Ghana. We conceptualize Christian missions as an institution, in its solid form, as the educational infrastructure and trade networks developed, and in its formal form, as advancing new rules that governed cultural and trade development. We use survey data, a map of mission stations, data on colonial-era urbanization and calculations of geographic endowments in each region of the country to examine the impacts of missionary activities on wealth, schooling and population clustering, and how these are reflected in wealth differences across regions of Ghana today. Results show that regional disparities in household wealth are large and significantly associated with intensity of colonial missionary activities, even after accounting for other important structural factors.

中文翻译：

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独立后六年：传教活动对加纳地区财富不平等的持久影响

什么力量推动区域经济分化？本研究将殖民时代的使命确定为塑造加纳经济关系的制度力量。随着教育基础设施和贸易网络的发展，我们将基督教传教团概念化为一个机构，其实体形式是一种机构，其正式形式是推动管理文化和贸易发展的新规则。我们使用调查数据、传教站地图、殖民时代城市化数据以及该国每个地区的地理禀赋计算来研究传教活动对财富、学校教育和人口聚集的影响，以及这些如何反映在财富中今天加纳各地区的差异。