Potatoes: A critical review

Abstract

Nunn and Qian study the effect of the introduction of potatoes in the Old World on population growth between 1700 and 1900. We think the paper credibly establishes that between one-sixth and one-quarter of the growth is a consequence of the introduction of potatoes. The main reason for doubt is the possibility of spurious correlation due to spatiotemporal autocorrelation and the fact that potatoes were mainly grown in Europe, which at the time was experiencing growth due to unrelated factors. After performing several tests to account for these concerns, we conclude they are not strong enough to reject the conclusion of the paper.