A Network of Thrones: Kinship and Conflict in Europe, 1495-1918

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Benzell, Seth G.; Cooke, Kevin
• 署名单位: Chapman University System; Chapman University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20180521
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 102-133
• 关键词: WAR; marriage

摘要

We construct a database linking European royal kinship networks, monarchies, and wars to study the effect of family ties on conflict. To establish causality, we exploit decreases in connection caused by apolitical deaths of rulers' mutual relatives. These deaths are associated with substantial increases in the frequency and duration of war. We provide evidence that these deaths affect conflict only through changing the kinship network. Over our period of interest, the percentage of European monarchs with kinship ties increased threefold. Together, these findings help explain the well-documented decrease in European war frequency.