Tariffs and Trees: The Effects of the Austro-Hungarian Customs Union on Specialization and Land-Use Change

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Oregon State University; University of New South Wales Sydney; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Jagiellonian University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050718000554
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 1142-1178
• 关键词: comparative advantage; INTERNATIONAL-TRADE; GROWTH; PRODUCTIVITY; patterns; forest; agriculture; persistence; legacies; Empire

摘要

This article examines the impact of the 1850 Austro-Hungarian customs union on production land-use outcomes. Using newly digitized data from the Second Military Survey of the Habsburg Monarchy, we apply a spatial discontinuity design to estimate the impact of trade liberalization on land use. We find that the customs union increased cropland area by 8 percent per year in Hungary between 1850 and 1855, while forestland area decreased by 6 percent. We provide suggestive evidence that this result is not confounded by the emancipation of the serfs, population growth, or technological change in agriculture.