We assemble a dataset on technology adoption in 3 ka BP, 2 ka BP, and 0.5 ka BP for the predecessors to today’s nation states. We find that this very old history of technology adoption is surprisingly significant for today’s national development outcomes. Although our strongest results are for 0.5 ka BP, we find that even technology as old as 3 ka BP is associated with today’s outcomes in some plausible specifications.

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