Economic Growth and Urban Self-Government: Evidence from Medieval Europe

• In Event: Economic Influences on Regime Change

Abstract

Does economic growth increase the likelihood that citizens demand access to political power? Using data on urban autonomy in medieval and early modern Europe, I show that growth enabled cities to break free from autocratic control and to establish self-government. To solve problems of endogeneity, I use changes in Europe’s weather patterns between 1000 and 1800 as an instrument for growth. Specifically, I document that higher growing season temperatures led to population growth, which promoted city self-government. Thus, economic growth does indeed seem to foster demands for political influence as postulated by modernization theory.

Author

• Jonathan Doucette, Aarhus University