>>8770

>does reich think ethnic groups differ in IQ?

Probably, but he wouldn't admit it for careerist and political reasons. Greg Cochran has written a series of articles on his blog reviewing Reich's book:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Awesthunt.wordpress.com%2F+Reich+%22Who+We+Are%22

>Reich’s book, Who We Are and How We Got Here, is really two books. The first is an exposition of his excellent work using ancient DNA to understand prehistory. The second is about the impact of advances in genetics on our understanding of social issues, such as various forms of inequality and racial differences. It’s not obvious why that second book was written. It’s not his specialty, and it’s far more controversial. Which for sure doesn’t bother me, but might not be a good thing for Reich. Nor is it as good a book. While saying true things that would, if properly understood by the usual gang of idiots, get him into serious trouble, the book is interspersed with non sequiturs, falsehoods, and unjust attacks on people who committed the deadly sin of prematurely coming to the same general conclusions he has. It’s possible that he felt the need to cloak his general line of thought with clouds of toxic squid ink. I don’t much care what his reasons were: I’m going to praise and explain when he’s right, argue with him when I think he’s wrong, kick him in the goolies when he’s being a prick.

>This paper investigates the claim that colonial history has left an enduring imprint on Africa's institutional and economic development. The literature following Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson (2001) and Sokoloff and Engerman (2000) maintains that different types of colonialism affected the institutional environment differently, and that path-dependence subsequently ensures that these institutional differences and their impact on economic performance are persistent over time. By tracing the impact of colonial institutions on contemporary institutions over time, I show that – in contrast to claims in this literature – the relevance of colonial legacies to institutional quality and to per capita income is rapidly disappearing in Africa. Differences in institutional quality or income are explained less and less by colonial legacy, while there is some evidence that precolonial social and geographical circumstances are becoming more important. I conclude that while colonialism has affected African institutional and economic development significantly, this impact is not persistent. Rather, the evidence suggests that colonialism has created a large but very temporary institutional shock, after which a long-run equilibrium is being restored.