Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP7809
Authors: Jan Luiten van Zanden; Eltjo Buringh; Maarten Bosker
Abstract: Starting in Spain in the twelfth century, parliaments gradually spread over the Latin West. The paper quantifies the activity of medieval and early-modern parliaments, which also makes it possible to analyse the influence of this institutional innovation. In the early-modern period parliaments declined in influence in southern and central Europe and gained in importance in the Netherlands and Britain. From the sixteenth century onwards active parliaments, which function as constraints on the executive, had a positive effect on city growth and appear to have been instrumental in stabilizing the currency. Active pre-1800 parliaments also enhanced the quality of democratic institutions in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Keywords: economic history; institutions; parliaments; europe
JEL Codes: N43; E02; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| active parliaments (D72) | city growth (R11) |
| active parliaments (D72) | currency stabilization (F31) |
| active parliaments (D72) | improved governance (G38) |
| improved governance (G38) | city growth (R11) |
| active parliaments (D72) | enhancement of democratic institutions (O17) |
| strong parliaments (H11) | rise of merchant class (B11) |
| rise of merchant class (B11) | economic development (O29) |