IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ial/wpaper/5-2012.html

Technology and the Era of the Mass Army

Author

Listed:
  • Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato

    (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca)

  • Kenneth Scheve

    (Stanford University)

  • David Stasavage

    (New York University)

Abstract

We investigate how technology has influenced the size of armies. During the nineteenth century the development of the railroad made it possible to field and support mass armies, significantly increasing the observed size of military forces. During the late twentieth century further advances in technology made it possible to deliver explosive force from a distance and with precision, making mass armies less desirable. We find strong support for our technological account using a new data set covering thirteen great powers between 1600 and 2000. Contrary to what is so often suggested, we find little evidence that the French Revolution was a watershed in terms of levels of mobilization..

Suggested Citation

  • Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato & Kenneth Scheve & David Stasavage, 2012. "Technology and the Era of the Mass Army," Working Papers 5/2012, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Nov 2013.
    • Handle: RePEc:ial:wpaper:5/2012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1420/1/EIC_WP_2012_5.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2012
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roderick Floud & Kenneth Wachter & Annabel Gregory, 1990. "Height, Health, and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number flou90-1, December.
    2. Dincecco, Mark, 2009. "Fiscal Centralization, Limited Government, and Public Revenues in Europe, 1650–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 48-103, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Warfare spurred on the welfare state in the 20th century
      by ? in ScienceNordic on 2018-11-10 05:25:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexander M Danzer & Natalia Danzer & Carsten Feuerbaum, 2024. "Military spending and innovation: learning from 19th-century world fair exhibition data," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 33(4), pages 831-854.
    2. Dincecco, Mark & Fenske, James & Menon, Anil, 2020. "The Columbian Exchange and conflict in Asia," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1319, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    3. Agustín Goenaga & Oriol Sabaté & Jan Teorell, 2023. "The state does not live by warfare alone: War and revenue in the long nineteenth century," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 393-418, April.
    4. Qian, Nancy & Iyigun, Murat & Nunn, Nathan, 2017. "The Long-run Effects of Agricultural Productivity on Conflict, 1400-1900," CEPR Discussion Papers 12457, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Aldashev, Gani & Zanarone, Giorgio, 2017. "Endogenous enforcement institutions," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 49-64.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Bryony Reich & Alessandro Riboni, 2020. "Nation-building, nationalism, and $$\hbox {wars}^*$$ wars ∗," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 381-430, December.
    7. Lagerlöf, Nils-Petter, 2014. "Population, technology and fragmentation: The European miracle revisited," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 87-105.
    8. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2016. "A positive theory of the predatory state," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 153-175, September.
    9. Oeindrila Dube & S.P. Harish, 2017. "Queens," NBER Working Papers 23337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Alberto Alesina & Bryony Reich & Alessandro Riboni, 2017. "Nation-Building, Nationalism, and Wars," Working Papers 2017-80, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    11. Mark Dincecco & Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato, 2016. "Military conflict and the rise of urban Europe," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 259-282, September.

    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:ial:wpaper:5 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Beard, N.F., 2014. "Feeding the British Public: a Centenary Review of Food and Drink Manufacturing," Centre for Agricultural Strategy - Papers and Reports 337544, University of Reading.
    3. Maria-Dolores, Ramon & Martínez Carrion, José Miguel, 2012. "The comovement between height and some economic development indicators in Spain," UMUFAE Economics Working Papers 26464, DIGITUM. Universidad de Murcia.
    4. Janet Currie & Tom Vogl, 2013. "Early-Life Health and Adult Circumstance in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 1-36, May.
    5. Agustín Goenaga & Oriol Sabaté & Jan Teorell, 2023. "The state does not live by warfare alone: War and revenue in the long nineteenth century," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 393-418, April.
    6. Timothy J. Hatton, 2014. "How have Europeans grown so tall?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 349-372.
    7. Scott A. Carson, 2010. "Nineteenth Century US African-American and White Female Statures: Insight from US Prison Records," CESifo Working Paper Series 3169, CESifo.
    8. Carson, Scott Alan, 2011. "Height of female Americans in the 19th century and the antebellum puzzle," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 157-164, March.
    9. Kim Oosterlinck & Loredana Ureche-Rangau & Jacques-Marie Vaslin, 2013. "Waterloo: a Godsend for French Public Finances?," Working Papers 0041, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    10. Malinowski, Mikołaj, 2019. "Economic Consequences of State Failure—Legal Capacity, Regulatory Activity, and Market Integration in Poland, 1505–1772," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(3), pages 862-896, September.
    11. Singh Tomar, Arun, 2021. "Sustainable Development Goals: An Economic and Social Perspective," MPRA Paper 116597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Franck, Raphaël & Johnson, Noel D. & Nye, John V.C., 2014. "From internal taxes to national regulation: Evidence from a French wine tax reform at the turn of the twentieth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 77-93.
    13. Schneider, Eric B., 2018. "Sample selection biases and the historical growth pattern of children," Economic History Working Papers 87075, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    14. Timothy J. Hatton, 2011. "Infant mortality and the health of survivors: Britain, 1910–50," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(3), pages 951-972, August.
    15. Robert C. Allen, 2015. "The high wage economy and the industrial revolution: a restatement," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 1-22, February.
    16. Heyberger, Laurent, 2007. "Toward an anthropometric history of provincial France, 1780-1920," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 229-254, July.
    17. John Komlos, 1993. "The secular trend in the biological standard of living in the United Kingdom, 1730-1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 46(1), pages 115-144, February.
    18. Leunig, Tim & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2006. "Comment on Oxley’s "Seat of death and terror"," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 500, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Ko, Chiu Yu & Koyama, Mark & Sng, Tuan-Hwee, 2014. "Unified China; Divided Europe," MPRA Paper 60418, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Mark Dincecco & Mauricio Prado, 2012. "Warfare, fiscal capacity, and performance," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 171-203, September.
    21. Jacobs, Jan & Tassenaar, Vincent, 2004. "Height, income, and nutrition in the Netherlands: the second half of the 19th century," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 181-195, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism
    • N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation
    • N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:ial:wpaper:5/2012. 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: Leonardo Mezzina (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/emimtit.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.