Persistence

Recent research in economic history shows that many long-gone historical incidents have a substantial impact on today's economic and social development. Two of my research works document such a "long shadow" of history.

In one study, we show that the Habsburg Empire persists even a hundred years after its demise in Eastern Europe - in the population's trust in public institutions. In our research project, we exploit the fact that the former Habsburg border cuts through several Eastern European countries today. Comparing people within the same country on both sides of the long-gone Habsburg border, we find that the ceased Habsburg Empire still persists today in greater trust and reduced corruption in courts and police at the local level.

A further case of historical persistence is the fact that the historical resistance of the Catholic church against the state-run school systems emerging during the second half of the 19th century is still visible in larger sectors of privately operated schools today. Countries that had larger Catholic population shares in 1900 (but did not have Catholicism as a state religion) have significantly larger private school shares today. That part of the variation in today's private school shares which can be traced back to larger historical Catholic shares in turn contributes to better student achievement today.

Research papers:

The Empire Is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long-Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy (with S.O. Becker, K. Boeckh and C. Hainz). Economic Journal 126 (590): 40-74, 2016

‘Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School’: Historical Resistance to State Schooling, Contemporary School Competition and Student Achievement across Countries (with M.R. West). Economic Journal 120 (546): F229-F255, 2010

Material available only in German

Non-technical contribution on recent research in economic history on persistence:

Der lange Schatten der Geschichte: Mechanismen der Persistenz in der Wirtschaftsgeschichte (with Davide Cantoni and Franziska Kugler). ifo Schnelldienst 67 (2): 13-22, 2014