Long-lasting social capital and its impact on economic development: the legacy of the commons

Daniel Montolio and Ana Tur-Prats ()
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Ana Tur-Prats: University of California, Merced
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ana Tur-Prats

No 2018/16, Working Papers from Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB)

Abstract: This paper analyzes the historical determinants and long-term persistence of social capital, as well as its effect on economic development, by looking at the legacy of the commons in a Spanish region. In medieval times, common goods were granted to townships and were managed collectively by local citizens. This enabled the establishment of institutions for collective action and self-government. Common goods persisted until the second half of the nineteenth century. We argue that the experience of cooperation among villagers, repeated over the centuries, increased the social capital in each local community. In 1845, a law forced small villages to merge with others, a fact which generated exogenous variation in the number of mergers (i.e., cooperative networks) that each modern municipality was required to have. We exploit this change in an IV and RD setting and find that current municipalities formed by a greater number of old townships have a denser network of associations. We also find that higher social capital is associated with more economic development.

Keywords: Collective Action; Self-Government; Long-Term Persistence; Common Goods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H49 N90 P48 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 64 pages
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-gro, nep-his and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Long-Lasting Social Capital and its Impact on Economic Development: The Legacy of the Commons (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-16

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