French

Guillaume Blanc and Masahiro Kubo

Lewis Lab Working Papers Series from Arthur Lewis Lab, The University of Manchester

Abstract: This paper studies nation-building in a fragmented society. We document the adoption of a common language and the construction of a national idenity in France. Using a natural experiment and drawing on a novel dataset on the languages spoken across municipalites on the eve of the twentieth century, we establish that state intervention in the provision of education brought homogenization. To understand why nation-building was successful, we study heterogeneity and find that elites and the demand for education were instrumental in driving assimilation. Finally, we document further impacts on identity and ideology in the twentieth century.

Keywords: nation-building; language; eeducation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I20 N40 P00 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Related works:
Working Paper: French (2024)
Working Paper: French (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:man:allwps:0002

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