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Political participation and economic development. Evidence from the rise of participative political institutions in the late medieval German Lands

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  • Fabian Wahl

Abstract

Participative political institutions in late medieval cities in the German Lands had the potential to impact city size and growth. The study confirms the positive effect on economic outcomes of participative political institutions in 282 cities, but supports a more skeptical view of craft guilds. Craft guilds participating in the city council had zero or negative impact. Enfranchising citizens to elect the city government had a stable and robustly positive effect on city size and growth, but only during the medieval period. The effect of participatory institutions declines with age; they are prone to institutional degeneration and rent-seeking.

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  • Fabian Wahl, 2019. "Political participation and economic development. Evidence from the rise of participative political institutions in the late medieval German Lands," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 23(2), pages 193-213.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:23:y:2019:i:2:p:193-213.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hey009
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    Cited by:

    1. Boerner, Lars & Rubin, Jared & Severgnini, Battista, 2021. "A time to print, a time to reform," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Felix Schaff, 2022. "Urban Political Structure and Inequality: Political Economy Lessons from Early Modern German Cities," Working Papers 0225, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," Economic History Working Papers 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Greif, Gavin, 2022. "Merchants, proto-firms, and the German industrialization: the commercial determinants of nineteenth century town growth," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113346, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Hans-Bernd Schaefer & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Islamic Law, Western European Law and the Roots of Middle East's Long Divergence: a Comparative Empirical Investigation (800-1600)," Papers 2401.14435, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    7. Pascali, Luigi & Becker, Sascha O. & Ferrara, Andreas & Melander, Eric, 2020. "Wars, Taxation and Representation: Evidence from Five Centuries of German History," CEPR Discussion Papers 15601, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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