This chapter examines the importance that social trust and deep cultural roots have for current productivity and the impact immigration has on each. Ultimately, we find that there isn't strong evidence that immigration could impact productivity through either of these channels.

First, we show that simple geographic forces play a role in understanding differences in current prosperity and income. This can be partially traced back to deep roots, such as the Agricultural Revolution, which allowed for a transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farmer society and enabled the building of institutions (this gave the Eurasian continent a head start). Second, we analyse the importance of geo-human interaction for explaining current prosperity levels. There is special attention for the role of embodied institional knowledge incorporated in international migration flows for helping us understand the ancestry-adjusted impact of bio-geographic and institutional factors (which helps explain the reversal of fortune hypothesis). Eventually, bio-geographic factors are thus important for economic development levels, either directly or indirectly through geo-human interaction.

First, we show that simple geographic forces play a role in understanding differences in current prosperity and income. This can be partially traced back to deep roots, such as the Agricultural Revolution, which allowed for a transition from a hunter-gatherer society to a farmer society and enabled the building of institutions (this gave the Eurasian continent a head start). Second, we analyse the importance of geo-human interaction for explaining current prosperity levels. There is special attention for the role of embodied institional knowledge incorporated in international migration flows for helping us understand the ancestry-adjusted impact of bio-geographic and institutional factors (which helps explain the reversal of fortune hypothesis). Eventually, bio-geographic factors are thus important for economic development levels, either directly or indirectly through geo-human interaction.