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The Persistence of the Economic Power of Elites, Expansion of Education and Industrial Transition

Malein, Viktor LU orcid (2024)
Abstract
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%... (More)
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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Land concentration, Education, Serfdom, Industrialization, I24, O43, Q15, N33
publisher
SSRN
DOI
10.2139/ssrn.4738889
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
806b6b4f-6f7e-4df7-9981-384d8381562d
alternative location
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4738889
date added to LUP
2024-05-06 14:02:01
date last changed
2024-05-06 15:49:27
@misc{806b6b4f-6f7e-4df7-9981-384d8381562d,
  abstract     = {{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.}},
  author       = {{Malein, Viktor}},
  keywords     = {{Land concentration; Education; Serfdom; Industrialization; I24; O43; Q15; N33}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  publisher    = {{SSRN}},
  title        = {{The Persistence of the Economic Power of Elites, Expansion of Education and Industrial Transition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4738889}},
  doi          = {{10.2139/ssrn.4738889}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}