Warfare, Taxation, and Political Change: Evidence from the Italian Risorgimento

We examine the relationships between warfare, taxation, and political change in the context of the political unification of the Italian peninsula. Using a comprehensive new database, we argue that external and internal threat environments had significant implications for the demand for military strength, which in turn had important ramifications for fiscal policy and the likelihood of constitutional reform and related improvements in the provision of non-military public services. Our analytic narrative complements recent theoretical and econometric works about state capacity. By emphasizing public finances, we also uncover novel insights about the forces underlying state formation in Italy

Wenkai He, Paths toward the modern fiscal state: England, Japan, and China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013. Pp. x + 313. 64 figs. 4 maps. 42 tabs. ISBN 9780674072787 Hbk. £40.95)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115975/1/ehr12257.pd

Military Conflict and the Rise of Urban Europe

We present new evidence about the relationship between military conflict and city population growth in Europe from the fall of Charlemagne’s empire to the start of the Industrial Revolution. Military conflict was a main feature of European history. We argue that cities were safe harbors from conflict threats. To test this argument, we construct a novel database that geocodes the locations of more than 800 conflicts between 800 and 1799. We find a significant, positive, and robust relationship that runs from conflict exposure to city population growth. Our analysis suggests that military conflict played a key role in the rise of urban Europe

Window of Opportunity: War and the Origins of Parliament

Two important puzzles characterize the development of pre-modern Eurasian polities. First, most rulers convened councils of nobles, but only European monarchs expanded them to create parliaments. Second, war was common throughout Eurasia, but only in Europe did it correlate with the formation of parliaments. We advance a new argument about the emergence of parliaments that accounts for both stylized facts while integrating the literature highlighting the rulers' need to finance wars with that emphasizing the importance of the medieval communal revolution. Using novel data, we document a 'no communes, no parliaments' rule: monarchs established parliaments only after they had fostered the creation of self-governing towns (aka communes). We also show that war was a significant predictor of parliamentary births across medieval Europe - but only during a window of opportunity that opened after a polity had experienced the communal revolution

The Economic Legacy of Warfare: Evidence from European Regions

Historical warfare in Europe inflicted numerous costs on rural populations. To reduce such costs, rural populations relocated behind the relative safety of urban fortifications. We argue that war-related urbanization had positive consequences for long-run regional economic development. We geocode the locations of more than 600 conflicts in early modern Europe. We find a positive and significant relationship between historical conflict exposure and regional economic development today. Our results are robust to a wide range of econometric techniques, alternative samples, and economic outcomes. Human capital accumulation stands out as one channel through which war-related urbanization translated into regional economic development. Our results highlight the military origins of Europe’s wealthy urban bel

Is Africa Different? Historical Conflict and State Development

We show that the consequences of historical warfare for state development differ for Sub-Saharan Africa. We identify the locations of more than 1,500 conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Europe from 1400 to 1799. We find that historical warfare predicts common-interest states defined by high fiscal capacity and low civil conflict across much of the OldWorld. For Sub-Saharan Africa, historical warfare predicts special-interest states defined by high fiscal capacity and high civil conflict. Our results offer new evidence about where and when “war makes states.

State Capacity and Long-Run Performance

We examine the long-term links between state capacity and economic performance. Our database is novel and spans 11 countries and 4 centuries in Europe, the birthplace of modern economic growth. A dynamic simultaneous equation panel model indicates that the performance effects of states with modern extractive and productive capabilities are significant, large, and robust to a broad range of specifications, controls, and sub-samples. We find that the establishment of an effective state increased per capita GDP by 7 percent over a half-century and by 11 percent over a full century

State capacity and long-run performance

We present new evidence about the long-term links between state capacity and economic performance. Our database is novel and spans 11 countries and 4 centuries in Europe, the birthplace of modern economic growth. Using standard panel data methods, we find that the performance impacts of states with modern extractive and productive capabilities are significant, large, and robust to a wide variety of specifications, controls, and modeling techniques