Have delayed independence and poor initial institutions been economically costly for Latin Americans?

Abstract

This paper tests the hypothesis that the timing of independence in Latin America and the institutions in place at the time of independence had a joint effect on the developmental paths of the countries. A new variable is presented - the interaction term between the timing of independence and initial institutions, and then tested with Multiple OLS Regressions. The findings support the notion that earlier independence in conjunction with better initial institutions may have had a positive influence on long-term economic growth in Latin American countries using data from 1990-2004.