IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/iamodp/149.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The French Revolution and German industrialization: The new institutional economics rewrites history

Author

Listed:
  • Kopsidis, Michael
  • Bromley, Daniel W.

Abstract

Our purpose here is to challenge the big-bang approach to economic history in which some alleged institutional imposition - a deus machine - is claimed to launch a series of new economic behaviors. This so-called prime mover is then carried forward by the inexorable forces of path dependency to change the course of history. The specific creation story under investigation here is the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic conquest of parts of Germany. We show that recent efforts to re-write German economic history using this theoretical model cannot be supported by the abundant and concerted empirical evidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Kopsidis, Michael & Bromley, Daniel W., 2014. "The French Revolution and German industrialization: The new institutional economics rewrites history," IAMO Discussion Papers 149, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iamodp:149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/97701/1/787963348.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2007. "‘Whatever is, is right’? Economic institutions in pre‐industrial Europe," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 60(4), pages 649-684, November.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Davide Cantoni & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2011. "The Consequences of Radical Reform: The French Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3286-3307, December.
    3. Kopsidis Michael, 2002. "The Creation of a Westphalian Rye Market 1820-1870: Leading and Following Regions, a Co-Integration Analysis," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 43(2), pages 85-112, December.
    4. Ogilvie Sheilagh, 2004. "Women and Labour Markets in Early Modern Germany," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 45(2), pages 25-60, December.
    5. Kocka, Jürgen, 1990. "Weder Stand noch Klasse: Unterschichten um 1800," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, volume 1, number 122905, July.
    6. Tilly, Richard, 1966. "The Political Economy of Public Finance and the Industrialization of Prussia, 1815–1866," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(4), pages 484-497, December.
    7. Kopsidis, Michael & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2012. "Agricultural Productivity Across Prussia During the Industrial Revolution: A Thünen Perspective," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 634-670, August.
    8. Uebele, Martin & Pfister, Ulrich & Riedel, Jana, 2012. "Real wages and the origins of modern economic growth in Germany, 16th to 19th centuries," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62076, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Quamrul Ashraf & Oded Galor, 2011. "Dynamics and Stagnation in the Malthusian Epoch," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2003-2041, August.
    10. Binswanger, Hans P. & Deininger, Klaus & Feder, Gershon, 1995. "Power, distortions, revolt and reform in agricultural land relations," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 42, pages 2659-2772, Elsevier.
    11. Grantham, George, 1999. "Contra Ricardo: On the macroeconomics of pre-industrial economies," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 199-232, August.
    12. Crouzet, François, 1964. "Wars, Blockade, and Economic Change in Europe, 1792–1815," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(4), pages 567-588, December.
    13. Michael Kopsidis & Nikolaus Wolf, 2012. "Agricultural Productivity Across Prussia During the Industrial Revolution: A ThŸnen Perspective," Working Papers 0013, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    14. Keller, Wolfgang & Shiue, Carol, 2013. "The Trade Impact of the Zollverein," CEPR Discussion Papers 9387, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Kopsidis, Michael & Hockmann, Heinrich, 2010. "Technical change in Westphalian peasant agriculture and the rise of the Ruhr, circa 1830–1880," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 209-237, August.
    16. Alexander James Field, 1979. "On the Explanation of Rules Using Rational Choice Models," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 49-72, March.
    17. Kocka, Jürgen, 1990. "Arbeitsverhältnisse und Arbeiterexistenzen: Grundlagen der Klassenbildung im 19. Jahrhundert," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, volume 2, number 122875, July.
    18. Ulrich Pfister & Georg Fertig, 2010. "The population history of Germany: research strategy and preliminary results," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2010-035, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    19. Kisch, Herbert, 1989. "From Domestic Manufacture to Industrial Revolution: The Case of the Rhineland Textile Districts," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195051117.
    20. Grantham, George W., 1980. "The Persistence of Open-Field Farming in Nineteenth-Century France," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 515-531, September.
    21. Kopsidis Michael, 1998. "Der westfälische Agrarmarkt im Integrationsprozeß 1780-1880. Phasen und Einflußfaktoren der Marktentwicklung in historischen Transformationsprozessen," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 39(2), pages 169-198, December.
    22. Grantham, George W., 1978. "The Diffusion of the New Husbandry in Northern France, 1815–1840," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 311-337, June.
    23. Clark, Gregory, 1987. "Productivity Growth without Technical Change in European Agriculture before 1850," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 419-432, June.
    24. Ewert, Ulf Christian, 2006. "The biological standard of living on the decline: Episodes from Germany during early industrialisation," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 51-88, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:zbw:iamodp:178686 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Michael Kopsidis & Ulrich Pfister, 2013. "Agricultural development during early industrialization in a low-wage economy: Saxony, c. 1790-1830," Working Papers 0039, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    3. Michael Kopsidis & Nikolaus Wolf, 2012. "Agricultural Productivity Across Prussia During the Industrial Revolution: A ThŸnen Perspective," Working Papers 0013, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Theresa Finley & Raphaël Franck & Noel D. Johnson, 2021. "The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(2), pages 233-267.
    5. Ulrich Pfister, 2020. "Urban population in Germany, 1500 - 1850," CQE Working Papers 9020, Center for Quantitative Economics (CQE), University of Muenster.
    6. Martin Uebele & Daniel Gallardo-Albarr�n, 2015. "Paving the way to modernity: Prussian roads and grain market integration in Westphalia, 1821-1855," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(1), pages 69-92, March.
    7. Michael Kopsidis, 2012. "Peasant Agriculture and Economic Growth: The Case of Southeast Europe c. 1870-1940 reinterpreted," Working Papers 0028, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2017. "Jewish communities and city growth in preindustrial Europe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 339-354.
    9. Cinnirella, Francesco & Hornung, Erik, 2016. "Landownership concentration and the expansion of education," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 135-152.
    10. Ulrich Pfister & Georg Fertig, 2020. "From Malthusian Disequilibrium to the Post-Malthusian Era: The Evolution of the Preventive and Positive Checks in Germany, 1730–1870," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(3), pages 1145-1170, June.
    11. Michael Kopsidis & Katja Bruisch & Daniel W. Bromley, 2013. "Where is the Backward Peasant? Regional Crop Yields on Common and Private Land in Russia 1883-1913," Working Papers 0046, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    12. Wojciech Sroka & Jaroslaw Mikolajczyk & Tomasz Wojewodzic & Boguslawa Kwoczynska, 2018. "Agricultural Land vs. Urbanisation in Chosen Polish Metropolitan Areas: A Spatial Analysis Based on Regression Trees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-22, March.
    13. Daron Acemoglu & Davide Cantoni & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2011. "The Consequences of Radical Reform: The French Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 3286-3307, December.
    14. Robinson, James A., 2010. "Elites and Institutional Persistence," WIDER Working Paper Series 085, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Enrico Spolaore & Romain Wacziarg, 2022. "Fertility and Modernity," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 796-833.
    16. Huning, Thilo R. & Wahl, Fabian, 2021. "The fetters of inheritance? Equal partition and regional economic development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    17. Michael Pammer, 2017. "Did higher inequality in agriculture enhance productivity? The case of Cisleithania, 1902," Working Papers 17006, Economic History Society.
    18. Suesse, Marvin & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2020. "Rural transformation, inequality, and the origins of microfinance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    19. Benedykt Pepliński, 2020. "Location of Cows and Pigs in Suburban Areas of Polish Metropolitan Centers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, March.
    20. Fouka, Vasiliki & Schlaepfer, Alain, 2017. "Agricultural Returns to Labor and the Origins of Work Ethics," MPRA Paper 78556, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Mark Dincecco & Mauricio Prado, 2012. "Warfare, fiscal capacity, and performance," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 171-203, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    institutional change; French Revolution; Germany; Prussian reforms; agricultural development; industrialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N63 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:iamodp:149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iamoode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.