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Urbanization and the Change in Political Elites

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  • Raphaël Franck
  • Victor Gay

Abstract

This study argues that urbanization changed the relationship between the occupation of candidates running in parliamentary elections and their electoral success. To identify local-level variation in urbanization, we leverage exogenous changes to the boundaries of electoral constituencies in the 1928, 1932, and 1936 French parliamentary elections. The results suggest that urbanization was detrimental to the electoral success of lawyers but beneficial to that of employees and workers. This electoral effect of urbanization was especially felt on the left of the political spectrum, whereby left-wing employees and workers crowded out left-wing lawyers.

Suggested Citation

  • Raphaël Franck & Victor Gay, 2024. "Urbanization and the Change in Political Elites," CESifo Working Paper Series 10885, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10885
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raphaël Franck, 2016. "The Political Consequences of Income Shocks: Explaining the Consolidation of Democracy in France," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 57-82, March.
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    7. Victor Gay, 2021. "Mapping the Third Republic: A Geographic Information System of France (1870–1940)," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 189-207, November.
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    12. Christian Bougeard, 1985. "Prémices de la décentralisation : la création d'entreprises industrielles dans les Côtes-du-Nord (1870-1940)," Histoire, économie & société, Programme National Persée, vol. 4(1), pages 137-160.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    elections; political representation; urbanization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K16 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Election Law
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N94 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: 1913-

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