Research Information System
Other, pp.1-73, 2022
The American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions (ABCFM) had a
significant foothold in the Anatolian geography for the major- ity of the early 19th century,
through their sizeable human capital intervention.
Through an extensive archival work, we study the im- pact of human capital
intervention on development outcomes. Using the spatial variation in the built and functional mission
stations, we find areas closer to
ABCFM missions have presently higher income by 5%-17%, and higher general development index by
0.07-0.12 stan- dard deviation
in 10 km proximity. We identify the
mission impact by exploiting a placebo set from the group that was conceived but not carried out, and also an exogenous re-partition of the working region
as an instrumental variable strategy. The underlying mechanisms are labor
productivity in the agriculture sector, which allows for greater skill differentiation and structural
transformation. Gender roles in education
are also significantly transformed.