Pandemic shock and economic divergence: political economy before and after the black death

Luis Salomon Bosshart and Jeremiah Edward Dittmar

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We document how the Black Death activated politics and led to economic divergence within Europe. Before the pandemic, economic development was similar in Eastern and Western German cities despite greater political fragmentation in the West. The pandemic precipitated a divergence that coincided with prior differences in politics. After the pandemic, construction and manufacturing fell by 1/3 in the East relative to underlying trends and the Western path. Politics institutionalizing local self-government advanced in the West, but not in the East. This divergence is observed across otherwise similar cities along historic borders and foreshadows a subsequent divergence in agriculture.

Keywords: institutions; political economy; structural change; cities; growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N13 N14 N60 N93 O10 O18 O40 P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2021-10-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:113853

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