The Origins of Liberal Democracy and the Economic Legacy of the Mongol Empire

• Autores: Scott Auriat
• Localización: Journal of European Economic History, ISSN 0391-5115, Vol. 52, Nº. 3, 2023, págs. 161-234
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • I explore the fact that the Mongol Empire invaded most of Eurasia but left Western Europe untouched. I hypothesize that differences in exposure to the Mongols resulted in divergent institutional paths.

    Where the Mongols invaded, they set up highly centralized auto- cratic institutions. Meanwhile, Western Europe developed compar- atively more liberal and decentralized institutions. I suggest that these differences in institutions have persisted until the present day.

    Using the legacy of Mongol invasions as a factor in the rise of exist- ing institutions as an instrument for current institutions, I find signif- icant effects on current GDP/capita caused by these divergent institutional paths.