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American Economic Review Vol. 101 No. 7 2011

The Consequences of Radical Reform: The French Revolution

Daron Acemoglu1; Davide Cantoni2; Simon Johnson3; James A. Robinson4

1 Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139, and CIFAR. · 2 Seminar für Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität, Ludwigstr. 33/IV 80539 Munich Germany. · 3 Sloan School of Management, MIT, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139. · 4 Department of Government and IQSS, Harvard University, 1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138, NBER and CIFAR.

Abstract

The French Revolution had a momentous impact on neighboring countries. It removed the legal and economic barriers protecting oligarchies, established the principle of equality before the law, and prepared economies for the new industrial opportunities of the second half of the 19th century. We present within-Germany evidence on the long-run implications of these institutional reforms. Occupied areas appear to have experienced more rapid urbanization growth, especially after 1850. A two-stage least squares strategy provides evidence consistent with the hypothesis that the reforms instigated by the French had a positive impact on growth. JEL: N13, N43, O47

DOI
10.1257/aer.101.7.3286
Volume
101
Issue
7
Pages
3286-3307
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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