This special issue, devoted to the analysis of colonial institutions in the economic performance of countries both pre- and post-colonialism Africa, aims to be a contribution, in the vein of North (2005), to the field of colonial studies in comparative institutional perspective. The papers in this issue combine the history of economic thought, econometrics, economic history, cliometrics and the analysis of colonial institutions. These approaches shed a new light on the question of path-dependence and historical dynamics. They suggest that as former African colonial countries move away from the colonial period, the shadow of colonial institutions is less marked and is now rivalled in importance by the extent of democracy, which now plays a crucial role in their economic development.