Salvation and Survival: The Expansion of Urban Public Goods Provision

• In Event: Human Rights & Urban and Local Politics Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual Poster Session: Urban and Local Politics: New Directions in Urban Politics Research Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, western Europe saw a large scale expansion of the provision of public goods, as the delivery of services such as local government, defence, poor relief, and health care were moved away from monarchs and clerics and into the hands of townsmen. What explains this expansion? I argue that the collapse of central rule after the death of the last Hohenstaufen Emperor in 1250 CE, forced former imperial townsmen to take over the provision of goods to ensure both their own survival and salvation. Using a difference-in-difference design, I provide evidence for this argument by showing that towns formerly under the control of the Hohenstaufen dynasty began to differentially introduce additional public goods institutions, such as assemblies, schools, protective walls, and hospitals, after 1250 CE. I further show that this subsequently promoted proto-industry and long distance trading.

Author

• Jonathan Doucette, University of Copenhagen