Working Paper: NBER ID: w22779
Authors: Mara P. Squicciarini; Nico Voigtländer
Abstract: This paper examines the role of knowledge elites in modernization. At the eve of the French Revolution, in the spring of 1789, King Louis XVI solicited lists of grievances (Cahiers de Doléances), in which the public could express complaints and suggestions for reforms of the Ancien Regime. We show that the demand for mass education and democratization was particularly high in regions that had a thick knowledge elite, measured by subscribers to the famous Encyclopédie in the 1770s. Historical evidence suggests that this pattern is driven by the spirit of enlightenment of French knowledge elites. Pre-revolution literacy, in contrast, is not correlated with demand for mass education or with the density of knowledge elites. After the French Revolution, knowledge elites played a key role in implementing schooling reforms at the local level. We show that by the mid-19th century, schooling rates were significantly higher in regions with thicker knowledge elites. The same is true of other proxies for modernization, such as association membership, Republican votes, and the share of French-speaking pupils. Our results highlight an important interaction between local culture (the spirit of enlightenment) and nation-wide institutions in economic development: the French Revolution opened a window of opportunity for local elites to pursue their agenda of modernization.
Keywords: Knowledge Elites; Modernization; Education; Democratization; French Revolution
JEL Codes: J24; N13; O14
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | demand for mass education (I21) |
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | demand for democratization (D72) |
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | schooling rates (I21) |
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | association membership (D71) |
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | votes for progressive political parties (D72) |
| demand for mass education (I21) | educational reforms (I28) |
| demand for democratization (D72) | educational reforms (I28) |
| density of knowledge elites (D80) | modernization (O14) |
| educational reforms (I28) | broader dimensions of modernization (P39) |