
Pandemics and Political Development: Legacy of the Black Death in Germany - headalgorithm
https://preprints.apsanet.org/engage/apsa/article-details/5ebb571445a38d00180f6185
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headalgorithm
Abstract:

Do pandemics have lasting consequences for political behavior? We address this
question by examining the consequences of the most deadly pandemic of the last
millennium: the Black Death (1347-1351). Our claim is that pandemics can
influence politics in the long run if they impose sufficient loss of life so
as to augment the price of labor relative to other factors of production. When
this occurs, labor repressive regimes (such as serfdom) become untenable,
which ultimately leads to the development of proto-democratic institutions and
associated political cultures that shape modalities of political engagement
for generations. We test our theory by tracing out the local consequences of
the Black Death in German-speaking Central Europe. We find that areas hit
hardest by the pandemic were more likely to: (1) adopt inclusive political
institutions and equitable land ownership patterns; (2)exhibit electoral
behavior indicating independence from landed elite influence during the
transition to mass politics.

