Research
Working papers
Job market paper
Abstract
Subject to exoduses, internal rebellions and diseases, states have historically developed only under very particular agro-ecological circumstances. This paper advances and empirically validates a new perspective on state formation, helping to understand their paucity and uneven development across the globe throughout the pre-industrial era. I posit that spatially asynchronous agricultural calendars mandated for a scattered productive system that could not be easily taxed and harnessed by centralised governments. Using data from the Ethnographic Atlas, I provide evidence that the heterogeneity of agricultural growing seasons was a crucial barrier to state centralisation. This holds true when controlling for a wide range of alternative determinants of state-building. The use of potential, rather than observed, agro-ecological data, as well as various robustness tests, give credit to an interpretation of the results beyond the mere correlation. Additional evidence on 19th century taxation and military mobilisation in China, India and Russia sheds light on the precise mechanisms whereby crop cycle heterogeneity hindered political centralisation.
Revise & Resubmit at the Journal of Development Economics
Abstract
This paper uses a novel dataset on ethnic warfare to shed light on how conflict affects social identification and cohesion. A large body of anecdotal studies suggests that ethnic identities become more salient at times of conflict. Using data from eighteen sub-Saharan countries, I provide econometric evidence for such a claim. The effect of ethnic conflict on various measures of social cohesion is also investigated, uncovering a positive relationship between the two. The finding is understood as a result of the ethnocentric dynamics generated by conflict: as ethnic warfare increases ethnic identification, in-group cooperation follows suit. This parochial interpretation is further strengthened by the use of remote violence and the conditionality of conflict-induced pro-social behaviour on low levels of ethnic polarisation.
Data & Code
Codebook Africa ethnolinguistic armed groups Dataset
Data, replication codes, and codes for building the dataset soon available
A tale of two countries: Agriculture, family structure, and the origins of the North-South cultural divide in Italy (joint with Mario Carillo)
Draft available upon request
Abstract
This paper explores the agrarian origins of social capital and collectivism using Italy as a case study. The country displays striking socio-economic and cultural differences within its territory. To a largely inward-looking and mistrusting South is opposed the more dynamic civil society of the central and northern portions of the country. This study empirically substantiates a relatively new perspective on the uneven distribution of social capital across the Italian peninsula. Comparing geographically-close communes sharing the same institutional background, we show that historical reliance on sharecropping is associated to more voluntary associations today. Preliminary evidence suggests that the prosocial legacy of sharecropping is explained by the collectivistic traits inherent in its interdependent division of labour.