Wars, Taxation, and Representation: Evidence from Five Centuries of German History
Abstract We provide causal evidence for the role of warfare in the development of medieval constitutionalism. Using novel data on the universe of German cities between 1290 and 1710, we show that military conflicts led to city councils that were larger, more likely to be elected by citizens, and more likely to include representatives of craft guilds. Additionally, these conflicts resulted in a substantial increase in local fiscal and spending capacity. We exploit the gender of the firstborn children of local nobles as a source of exogenous variation in conflicts.
Authors
- Luigi Pascali (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0486-495X)
- Andreas Ferrara
- Eric Melander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2110-2754)
- Sascha O. Becker
Institutions
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (IT)
- Monash University (AU)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the European Economic Association
- Published
- 2025-05-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jeea/jvaf019
- Citations
- 31
- Primary Topic
- Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 27.96
Funders
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
- Economic and Social Research Council