Culture, institutions and the long divergence
Résumé
During the medieval and early modern periods the Middle East lost its economic advantage relative to the West. Recent explanations of this historical phenomenon—called the Long Divergence—focus on these regions’ distinct political economy choices regarding religious legitimacy and limited governance. We study these features in a political economy model of the interactions between rulers, secular and clerical elites, and civil society. The model induces a joint evolution of culture and political institutions converging to one of two distinct stationary states: a religious and a secular regime. We then map qualitatively parameters and initial conditions characterizing the West and the Middle East into the implied model dynamics to show that they are consistent with the Long Divergence as well as with several key stylized political and economic facts. Most notably, this mapping suggests non-monotonic political economy dynamics in both regions, in terms of legitimacy and limited governance, which indeed characterize their history.
Domaines
Economies et financesFormat du dépôt | Fichier |
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Type de dépôt | Article dans une revue |
Titre |
en
Culture, institutions and the long divergence
|
Résumé |
en
During the medieval and early modern periods the Middle East lost its economic advantage relative to the West. Recent explanations of this historical phenomenon—called the Long Divergence—focus on these regions’ distinct political economy choices regarding religious legitimacy and limited governance. We study these features in a political economy model of the interactions between rulers, secular and clerical elites, and civil society. The model induces a joint evolution of culture and political institutions converging to one of two distinct stationary states: a religious and a secular regime. We then map qualitatively parameters and initial conditions characterizing the West and the Middle East into the implied model dynamics to show that they are consistent with the Long Divergence as well as with several key stylized political and economic facts. Most notably, this mapping suggests non-monotonic political economy dynamics in both regions, in terms of legitimacy and limited governance, which indeed characterize their history.
|
Auteur(s) |
Alberto Bisin
1, 2, 3
, Jared Rubin
4
, Avner Seror
5
, Thierry Verdier
6, 7, 2
1
NBER -
National Bureau of Economic Research [New York]
( 160932 )
- Branch Office NBER New York
5 Hanover Square
16th Floor, Suite 1602
New York, NY 10004-2630
- États-Unis
2
CEPR -
Center for Economic Policy Research
( 143559 )
- Royaume-Uni
3
NYU -
New York University [New York]
( 300459 )
- 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
- États-Unis
4
Chapman University
( 261123 )
- Orange, CA 92866
- États-Unis
5
AMSE -
Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques
( 526949 )
- 5-9 Boulevard Bourdet
CS 50498
13205 Marseille Cedex 1
- France
6
PSE -
Paris School of Economics
( 301309 )
- 48 boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris
- France
7
ENPC -
École des Ponts ParisTech
( 301545 )
- École des Ponts ParisTech 6-8 avenue Blaise-Pascal Cité Descartes 77455 Champs-sur-Marne Marne-la-Vallée cedex 2
- France
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Langue du document |
Anglais
|
Nom de la revue |
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Date de publication |
2023-04-15
|
Vulgarisation |
Non
|
Comité de lecture |
Oui
|
Audience |
Internationale
|
Date de publication électronique |
2023-05-15
|
URL éditeur |
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10887-023-09227-7#additional-information
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Domaine(s) |
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Projet(s) ANR |
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Mots-clés (JEL) |
|
Mots-clés |
en
Long divergence, Cultural transmission, Institutions, Legitimacy, Religion, Political economy
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DOI | 10.1007/s10887-023-09227-7 |
UT key WOS | WOS:000987934100001 |
Origine :
Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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