Political economy

The Road to Rebellion: Rural Uprisings and State-Building in the Run-Up to the French Revolution

Early modern European powers were beset by episodic unrest as they sought to consolidate authority and build empires. We examine how growing state communication networks and increased state presence impacted rural unrest by combining original and …

Urbanization and Electoral Success: Lawyers and Workers in Interwar France

This study argues that urbanization altered the relationship between candidates' occupation and their electoral success. To identify the causal effect of local variation in urbanization, we exploit exogenous changes in the boundaries of electoral …

No Better Time Than Now. Future Uncertainty and Private Investment Under Dictatorship

Noisy signaling model that highlights how uncertainty about the type of potential autocratic successors might paradoxically provide incentives for elite investment.

Unlikely Democrats. Economic Elite Uncertainty under Dictatorship and Support for Democratization

Noisy signaling model that highlights how uncertainty about the type of potential autocratic successors might induce economic elites to support a democratic transition.

Do Female/Male Distinctions in Language Matter? Evidence from Gender Political Quotas

The pervasiveness of gender distinctions in grammar is strongly correlated with the adoption of political gender quotas.

The Grammatical Origins of Gender Roles

Women speaking languages that more pervasively mark gender distinctions are less likely to participate in economic and political life, and more likely to encounter barriers in their access to land and credit.