Landownership Concentration and the Expansion of Education
55 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2015 Last revised: 18 Feb 2016
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Landownership Concentration and the Expansion of Education
Landownership Concentration and the Expansion of Education
Landownership Concentration and the Expansion of Education
Date Written: December 23, 2015
Abstract
We study the relationship between large landownership concentration and the expansion of mass education in nineteenth-century Prussia. Cross-sectional estimates show a negative association between landownership concentration and enrollment rates. Fixed-effects panel estimates indicate that regions with an initially stronger landownership concentration exhibit increasing enrollment rates. This relationship is not driven by differences in the supply of schooling. We argue that the implementation of agricultural reforms including the stepwise abolition of serfdom is an important driver of the change in enrollment. The results are consistent with the interpretation that emancipation from labor coercion increased the private demand for education.
Keywords: Land concentration, Education, Serfdom, Peasants' emancipation, Prussian economic history
JEL Classification: O43, Q15, I25, N33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation