Viktor Malein
Postdoctoral fellow
The Persistence of the Economic Power of Elites, Expansion of Education and Industrial Transition
Author
Summary, in English
This paper studies the economic impacts of land ownership concentration among the aristocratic elite in the Russian Empire. I document that areas with a higher concentration of noble land ownership were associated with lower levels of primary education during 1880-1911. Exploring the mechanisms, I show that by controlling local governments the landed elites decreased public spending on education, shifting the financial burden to peasant households. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the presence of large noble estates established constraints on educational demand by diminishing relative agricultural wages. Finally, the paper identifies a significant negative influence of landed elites on industrial growth and firm productivity, with up to 56% of this effect attributable to the human capital channel.
Department/s
- Department of Economic History
- Centre for Economic Demography
Publishing year
2024-05-03
Language
English
Links
Document type
Working paper
Publisher
SSRN
Topic
- Economic History
Keywords
- Land concentration
- Education
- Serfdom
- Industrialization
- I24
- O43
- Q15
- N33
Status
Published