Politics & Governance / Political Philosophy & Theory / Power & Governance Theory

Why National Institutions Fail to Boost Development in Most of Africa

National Institutions and Subnational Development in Africa

Stelios Michalopoulos, Elias Papaioannou

A groundbreaking study by Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown University) and Elias Papaioannou (London Business School) reveals a shocking truth: the quality of national institutions—like rule of law and corruption control—has almost no impact on local economic development across most of Africa. Using satellite nightlight data and a clever quasi-experimental design based on colonial borders that split 200+ ethnic groups, the researchers find that institutional effects vanish once you control for ethnicity. The real driver? Proximity to the capital. Only within 12 kilometers of the capital do institutions matter; beyond that, power fades. This challenges decades of development policy, suggesting that top-down institutional reforms may be futile in remote regions. Instead, traditional customs and local governance reign supreme. Watch to discover why the 'power broadcast' model fails and what this means for Africa's future.