Colonization and development: The long-term effect of Russian settlement in the North Caucasus, 1890s–2000s

Russian Empire colonized North Caucasus in the late nineteenth century. * The share of Russian settlers predicts literacy among the indigenous population across 30 districts. * And also affects income, education and the quality of local governance today. * The mechanisms are school building policy, administrative integration and social structure. This paper exploits differences in the proportion of Russian settlers in the North Caucasus in the nineteenth century to estimate the effect of colonization on long-term development. The identification strategy relies on the fact that the primary purp... Mehr ...