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You reap what you know: Appropriability and the origin of European states

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  • Huning, Thilo R.
  • Wahl, Fabian

Abstract

Geography provides some states with a higher level of soil quality than others, and in addition has allowed some historical states to appropriate agricultural output at lower costs. To test this empirically, we propose a new measure of appropriability: caloric observability. The idea behind this measure is that geography induces variation between states because their signals about agricultural output differ in precision. Caloric observability is robustly and significantly correlated with proxies of government success on three levels: Data on all European states 1300–1700, our new data set on the Holy Roman Empire 1150–1789, and a municipality-level data set of 1545 Duchy of Württemberg.

Suggested Citation

  • Huning, Thilo R. & Wahl, Fabian, 2023. "You reap what you know: Appropriability and the origin of European states," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:79:y:2023:i:c:s0176268023000769
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2023.102432
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal capacity; Soil heterogeneity; Holy Roman Empire; Duchy of Württemberg;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H21 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Efficiency; Optimal Taxation
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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