 The Long-Run Effects of Popular Uprisings: Evidence from the German Peasants’ WarFabian Wahl No 20231, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research Abstract: The German Peasants’ War, the largest popular uprising in Europe before the French Revolution, has been widely studied by historians, but its long-term regional effects remain unexplored quantitatively. This paper offers the first systematic analysis by examining urban development in conflict-affected areas using data on economic construction from 1225 to 1825 drawn from the Deutsches Städtebuch. Using differencein- differences and event study methods, I find a significant and lasting decline in construction activity in the conflict zone—driven by the southern region, with no significant effect in the north. Placebo tests using alternative war geographies confirm the robustness of the results. These findings underscore the persistent negative effects of civil conflict on regional economic development. I provide suggestive evidence that this decline was linked to reduced presence of upper-tail human capital and political elites, pointing to disrupted local political and educational infrastructure as a mechanism behind the long-run urban stagnation. Keywords: Urban development; Difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:20231 Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from Access Statistics for this paper More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX, UK. |
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