Habsburg
Even a hundred years after its demise, the Habsburg Empire persists 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.
Non-technical contribution:
How the Long-gone Habsburg Empire Is Still Visible in Eastern European Bureaucracies Today (with S.O. Becker). VOX, 31.5.2011
Here you can learn more about my research on this topic.
The academic paper on the topic is:
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
A contribution about our research results in The Independent, 24.2.2016