Wars, Taxation, and Representation: Evidence from Five Centuries of German History

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Becker, Sascha O.; Ferrara, Andreas; Melander, Eric; Pascali, Luigi
• 署名单位: Monash University; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh; University of Birmingham; Luiss Guido Carli University; Pompeu Fabra University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvaf019
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: democratic peace; regime type; Europe; state; rise; institutions; GOVERNMENT; opinion; clash; fight

摘要

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.