IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rco/dpaper/545.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Identity and Institutional Change: Evidence from First Names in Germany, 1700–1850

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Weigand

    (Harvard University)

  • Cathrin Mohr

    (University of Bonn)

  • Davide Cantoni

    (LMU Munich, CEPR, CESifo)

Abstract

How does culture respond to institutional change? We study the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire (1789–1815), when half of Central Europe changed rulers. Using 44 million birth records from hundreds of cities between 1700 and 1850, we measure cultural traits in real time. Cities that experienced ruler change saw greater naming turnover, dispersion, and novelty. We construct control groups using diplomatic records to isolate these effects, which emerged immediately and persisted. The collapse of hegemonic authority weakened state-aligned identities while strengthening religiosity and nationalism. These shifts undermined subsequent state building, highlighting challenges of ideological integration after regime change.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Weigand & Cathrin Mohr & Davide Cantoni, 2025. "Identity and Institutional Change: Evidence from First Names in Germany, 1700–1850," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 545, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    • Handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:545
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rationality-and-competition.de/wp-content/uploads/discussion_paper/545.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ashesh Rambachan & Jonathan Roth, 2023. "A More Credible Approach to Parallel Trends," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(5), pages 2555-2591.
    2. Benjamin Elbers, 2023. "A Method for Studying Differences in Segregation Across Time and Space," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 52(1), pages 5-42, February.
    3. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    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. Cocco, Valentin & Chakir, Raja & Mouysset, Lauriane, 2025. "Guilty or scapegoat? Land consolidation and hedgerow decline," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Li, Daiyue & Jin, Yanhong & Cheng, Mingwang, 2024. "Unleashing the power of industrial robotics on firm productivity: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 500-520.
    3. Lee, Sunyoung, 2025. "Did recreational marijuana legalization increase crime in the long run?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2024. "Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3253-3285.
    5. Alice Bonaimé & Ye (Emma) Wang, 2024. "Mergers, Product Prices, and Innovation: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(3), pages 2195-2236, June.
    6. Nilsen, Øivind A. & Raknerud, Arvid, 2024. "Dynamics of first-time patenting firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(8).
    7. Ohyun Kwon & Hao Zhao & Min Qiang Zhao, 2021. "The Reallocation Effect of Emissions Cap-and-Trade: Evidence from China," School of Economics Working Paper Series 2021-13, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University.
    8. Philipp Barteska & Jay Euijung Lee, 2024. "Bureaucrats and the Korean export miracle," Discussion Papers 2024-11, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    9. Anna Laura Baraldi & Claudia Cantabene & Alessandro De Iudicibus & Giovanni Fosco & Erasmo Papagni, 2025. "Shocks and Selection: How Earthquakes Shape Local Political Representation," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2025/06, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    10. Kim, Dongin & Steinbach, Sandro & Zurita, Carlos, 2024. "Deep trade agreements and agri-food global value chain integration," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    11. Pyan Muchtar & Budy Resosudarmo, 2025. "Food one click away: The impact of online food delivery platforms on food security in Indonesia," Departmental Working Papers 2025-05, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    12. Francesconi, Marco & Sonedda, Daniela, 2024. "Does Weaker Employment Protection Lower the Cost of Job Loss?," IZA Discussion Papers 17374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Isabelle Chort & Berk Öktem, 2024. "Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: Evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Mexico," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1020-1057, May.
    14. Mrejen, Matías & Rocha, Rudi, 2025. "Hiring mental health professionals: Evidence from a large-scale policy in Brazil," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    15. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2024. "Estimating Causal Effects with Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," IFRO Working Paper 2024/03, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    16. Marisetty, Vijaya B. & Shoeb, Md, 2024. "Capital infusions and Bank risk-taking behaviour," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Jason Semprini, 2023. "Medicaid expansions and private insurance “crowd‐out” (1999–2019)," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(7), pages 1329-1342, December.
    18. Adamson Bryant, 2025. "Place-Based Policies for Neighborhood Improvement: Evidence from Promise Zones," Papers 2503.05946, arXiv.org.
    19. Michael Ryan & Ayumu Tanaka, 2025. "Multinational firms’ responses to a host country financial crisis: the case of Korea," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 161(3), pages 997-1033, August.
    20. M. V. Lee Badgett & Christopher S. Carpenter & Maxine J. Lee & Dario Sansone, 2025. "A review of the effects of legal access to same‐sex marriage," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 266-294, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    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:rco:dpaper:545. 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: Viviana Lalli (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rationality-and-competition.de .

    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.