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Landownership concentration and the expansion of education

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  • Cinnirella, Francesco
  • Hornung, Erik

Abstract

We study the relationship between large landownership concentration and the expansion of mass education in nineteenth-century Prussia. Cross-sectional estimates show a negative association between landownership concentration and enrollment rates. Fixed-effects panel estimates indicate that regions with an initially stronger landownership concentration exhibit increasing enrollment rates. This relationship is not driven by differences in the supply of schooling. We argue that the implementation of agricultural reforms including the stepwise abolition of serfdom is an important driver of the change in enrollment. The results are consistent with the interpretation that emancipation from labor coercion increased the private demand for education.

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  • Cinnirella, Francesco & Hornung, Erik, 2016. "Landownership concentration and the expansion of education," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 135-152.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:121:y:2016:i:c:p:135-152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2016.03.001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Land concentration; Education; Serfdom; Peasants' emancipation; Prussian economic history;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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