Excellent item related to previous post.
Forthcoming in American Economic Review
The Consequences of Radical Reform:
The French Revolution
By Daron Acemoglu, Davide Cantoni, Simon Johnson, and James A.
Robinson
The French Revolution had a momentous impact on neighboring
countries. It removed the legal and economic barriers protecting
oligarchies, established the principle of equality before the law, and
prepared economies for the new industrial opportunities of the second
half of the 19th century. We present within-Germany evidence
on the long-run implications of these institutional reforms. Occupied
areas appear to have experienced more rapid urbanization
growth, especially after 1850. A two-stage least squares strategy
provides evidence consistent with the hypothesis that the reforms
instigated by the French had a positive impact on growth.
