State capacity and military conflict

Nicola Gennaioli and Hans-Joachim Voth

Economics Working Papers from Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Abstract: In 1500, Europe was composed of hundreds of statelets and principalities, with weak central authority, no monopoly over the legitimate use of violence, and overlapping jurisdictions. By 1800, only a handful of powerful, centralized nation states remained. We build a model that explains both the emergence of capable states and growing divergence between European powers. We argue that the impact of war was crucial for state building, and depended on: i) the importance of financial resources for military success, and ii) a country's initial level of domestic political fragmentation. We emphasize the role of the "Military Revolution", which raised the cost of war. Initially, this caused more cohesive states to invest in state capacity, while more divided states rationally dropped out of the competition, causing divergence between European states. As the cost of war escalates further, all remaining states engaged in a race to the top, resulting in greater state building.

Keywords: state capacity; war; military revolution; taxation; political economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H10 H20 H56 H60 N43 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-11, Revised 2013-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Related works:
Journal Article: State Capacity and Military Conflict (2015)
Working Paper: State Capacity and Military Conflict (2015)
Working Paper: State Capacity and Military Conflict (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upf:upfgen:1294

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