Why Nations Fail Illustrated

Lecture 7

Origins of Inclusive Institutions #3

Australia, France & Western Europe, and Japan

20 November, 2018

Masayuki Kudamatsu

Chapter 10, pp. 340-341, and pp. 362-363

Today's Road Map

Australia

French Revolution

Spread of French Revolution to Western Europe

Term paper preparation #3

Meiji-Japan

Australia as Britain's penal colony

Destination for British convicts since January 1788

Economic institutions in colonial Australia

Initial plan: Extractive institutions

Forced labor for convicts

Given only food in return for their labor

Guards & soldiers keep their produce

But convicts didn't work hard

No one else would work for guards

Aboriginals were sparsely populated

Economic institutions in colonial Australia (cont.)

Revised plan: Inclusive institutions

Convicts: allowed to sell their produce in their spare time

Given land once completing their sentences

Allowed to run businesses and hire other convicts

Similar to what happened

in British colonies of North America (Lecture 6)

Propserity in colonial Australia

Guards also became rich

Set up monopolies to sell goods to convicts

Ranch sheep to export wool

e.g.

John Macarthur, a former solider

Some convicts became rich

e.g.

Henry Cable, an illiterate convict

By 1798, ran a hotel and a shop

By 1809, owned 9 farms of 470 acres, many shops & houses

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Conflict over institutions in colonial Australia

Demand from ex-convicts and their families

End to transportation of convicts from Britain

(to keep their wages high)

Trial by a jury of their peers

Access to free land

Plan by British government (John Bigge)

Ban convicts from owning lands

Prohibit anyone from paying wages to convicts

economic institutions
Secure
for everyone
Property rights Insecure
for majority of people
Free Occupational
choice
Forced labor
Free Entry of new businesses Prevented by monopolies
Unbiased System of laws Biased for
the powerful/rich
Promoted Public service provision Discouraged

Economic Institutions

Inclusive

Extractive

Property rights

Secure for everyone

Insecure for

majority of people

Occupational choice

Free

Forced labor

Entry of

new businesses

Free

Prevented by

monopolies

System of laws

Unbiased

Biased for

the powerful / rich

Public service provision

Provided

Limited

Demanded

by ex-convicts

British govt's

plan

Interpreting this conflict by the book's theory

Conflict over institutions in colonial Australia (cont.)

Ex-convicts soon demanded political participation as well

Elections to participate as equals to the elite

Parliaments in which they could hold office

Movement led by journalist William Wentworth, the son of convicts

Birth of inclusive political institutions

Ex-convicts: allowed to sit on juries

1831

1840

Transportation of convicts from Britain: stopped

1842

Legislative council: created

2/3 of seats elected (the rest appointed)

Many ex-convicts with enough property:

could vote & stand for office

Ex-convicts' demands: gradually accepted by the elite

Birth of inclusive political institutions (cont.)

Discovery of gold in 1851 (pp. 340-341)

Everyone is allowed to dig for gold

as long as paying an annual mining license fee

i.e. Inclusive economic institutions

Image source: National Geographic

Birth of inclusive political institutions (cont.)

From 1856 onwards

All men over 21 years old: enfranchised

Secret ballots: introduced (the world's first)

The diggers (those who became rich with gold mining):

demand more inclusive political institutions

Image source: Hirst (2006)

Inclusive Economic Institutions

Economic Growth

Inclusive Political Institutions

This is an example of the feedback loop

Open access

to gold mines

Universal suffrage with secret ballots

2nd path towards inclusive institutions

In both Australia and the United States:

Low

population

density

Lack of

precious

metals

Climate

unsuitable for

plantation

Inclusive economic institutions

Non-elite become rich

& demand political participation

Inclusive political institutions

And not just for U.S. & Australia

The less densely populated in 1500, the richer today

Today's Road Map

Australia

French Revolution

Spread of French Revolution to Western Europe

Term paper preparation #3

Meiji-Japan

Extractive institutions in 18th-century France

Peasants in rural areas

Restricted from moving out of their villages

Required to pay feudal dues to monarch, noblility, and church

Cities

Guilds monopolized manufacturing

economic institutions
Secure
for everyone
Property rights Insecure
for majority of people
Free Occupational
choice
Forced labor
Free Entry of new businesses Prevented by monopolies
Unbiased System of laws Biased for
the powerful/rich
Promoted Public service provision Discouraged

Economic Institutions

Inclusive

Extractive

Property rights

Secure for everyone

Insecure for

majority of people

Occupational choice

Free

Restricted

Entry of

new businesses

Free

Prevented by

monopolies

System of laws

Unbiased

Biased for

the powerful / rich

Public service provision

Provided

Limited

Inclusive elements of political institutions in France

Key aristocrats handpicked by the monarch

Give advice to the monarch (mild constraint on the king)

Centralization by Louis XIV (in power for 1661-1715)

To finance the standing army

Aristocrats & churches:

exempted from tax, though

Somewhat similar to 16th-century England (Lecture 3)

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Lead-up to French Revolution

Early 18th-century

Economic growth under Louis XIV

(supposedly) led to the emergence of merchants

1756-1763

Seven Years' War with Britain caused a fiscal crisis

Lead-up to French Revolution (cont.)

1787

To raise new taxes, Louis XVI convened Assembly of Notables

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

They concluded to convene Estates-General

Lead-up to French Revolution (cont.)

1789

Estates-General, representing all subjects, gathered

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

And turned into National Constituent Assembly

French Constitution of 1791

Taxes shall be collected from all the citizens ... in the same manner

Article 9

Article 11

All citizens are eligible to any office

Also later

The National Assembly ... completely abolishes the feudal system.

Article 1

Abolish guilds and any occupational restrictions

economic institutions
Secure
for everyone
Property rights Insecure
for majority of people
Free Occupational
choice
Forced labor
Free Entry of new businesses Prevented by monopolies
Unbiased System of laws Biased for
the powerful/rich
Promoted Public service provision Discouraged

Economic Institutions

Inclusive

Extractive

Property rights

Secure for everyone

Insecure for

majority of people

Occupational choice

Free

Restricted

Entry of

new businesses

Free

Prevented by

monopolies

System of laws

Unbiased

Biased for

the powerful / rich

Public service provision

Provided

Limited

Today's Road Map

Australia

French Revolution

Spread of French Revolution to Western Europe

Term paper preparation #3

Meiji-Japan

Extractive institutions in 18th-century Europe

Peasants owed various fees & taxes to lords

e.g.

230 different payments in Nassau-Usingen

for slaughtering an animal, selling/buying property, etc.

Guilds regulate economic activities in cities

e.g.

Guilds in Cologne & Aachen

blocked the adoption of spinning and weaving machines

Similar episode in Kassel (Lecture 3)

Extractive institutions in 18th-century Europe (cont.)

Severe restrictions on the lives of Jews

Had to live in a small, walled part of the town (Jewish ghetto)

Could not farm or trade in weapons, spices, wine, or grain

Had to pay a special poll tax

e.g.

In Frankfurt, Jewish people:

Map of Frankfurt in 1628

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Spread of French Revolution

Austria (cf. Lecture 4) and its allies:

Fearful of the spread of the revolution 

Invaded the Revolutionary France in 1792

But France conquered much of Europe thanks to:

Mass conscription introduced in 1793

Napoleon Bonaparte

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The area ruled by Napoleon

Image source: Map 17 of Why Nations Fail

Inclusive institutions exported

Napoleon imposed Code Napoleon in every territory he controlled

Abolishing feudal land relations

Stamping out guilds in cities

Stripping the clergy of their privilege

After the defeat of Napoleon

Code Napoleon remained in effect

in many areas

Those areas conquered by Napoleon:

Industralization took off

by the mid 19th century

Image source: mafr.fr

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

1744:

Born in Frankfurt's Jewish ghetto

Became a leading dealer in metals & antiques

but couldn't open a shop outside the ghetto

1796:

France occupied Frankfurt

Jews were emancipated

Mid-19th century:

His bank became Europe's largest

Evidence: 19 German polities in 19th-century

Evidence: 19 German polities in 19th-century (cont.)

Source: Adopted from Figure 2b of Acemoglu, Cantoni, Johnson, and Robinson (2011)

Occupied by Napoleon

Others

Today's Road Map

Australia

French Revolution

Spread of French Revolution to Western Europe

Term paper preparation #3

Meiji-Japan

Japan during the Edo era: Extractive institutions

No freedom of occupation (士農工商)

High rates of taxation on farmers

Shogun monopolized foreign trade (「鎖国」)

economic institutions
Secure
for everyone
Property rights Insecure
for majority of people
Free Occupational
choice
Forced labor
Free Entry of new businesses Prevented by monopolies
Unbiased System of laws Biased for
the powerful/rich
Promoted Public service provision Discouraged

Economic Institutions

Inclusive

Extractive

Property rights

Secure for everyone

Insecure for

majority of people

Occupational choice

Free

Restricted

Entry of

new businesses

Free

Prevented by

monopolies (?)

System of laws

Unbiased

Biased for

the powerful / rich

Public service provision

Provided

Limited

Japan during the Edo era

Satsuma domain (薩摩藩)

Allowed to trade with foreign countries via Ryukyu Islands

Import English textile machinery (cf. Lecture 4) to create

Japan's first cotton spinning mill (鹿児島紡績所) in 1867

But political institutions weren't fully absolutist

After Meiji Restoration:

Inclusive economic institutions

Individual property rights on land

Freedom to practice any trade

Construction of infrastructure by the state

Steamship line from Tokyo to Osaka (1869) (cf. Lecture 6)

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

economic institutions
Secure
for everyone
Property rights Insecure
for majority of people
Free Occupational
choice
Forced labor
Free Entry of new businesses Prevented by monopolies
Unbiased System of laws Biased for
the powerful/rich
Promoted Public service provision Discouraged

Economic Institutions

Inclusive

Extractive

Property rights

Secure for many(?)

Insecure for

majority of people

Occupational choice

Free

Restricted

Entry of

new businesses

Free

Prevented by

monopolies (?)

System of laws

Unbiased

Biased for

the powerful / rich

Public service provision

Provided

Limited

Japan after Meiji Restoration

Political institutions after Meiji Restoration

Taxation centralized

Constitutional monarchy with parliament from 1889

Inclusive

Extractive

Both

Plurality

and

Centralized

State

Either

Absolutist

or

Lack of

Centralization

Why Japan, not China?

China (cf. Lecture 4)

No institutionalized constraints on the Emperor

Rebellions imposed constraints, but not institutionalized

Japan

The Emperor was sidelined

Tokugawa shogun didn't fully control all domains

e.g.

Satsuma domain allowed to trade with foreign countries

Why Japan, not China? (cont.)

Industrial Revolution in Britain / U.S.

posed military threats to China and Japan

First Opium War (阿片戦争) in 1839-1842

Arrival of U.S. warships in Japan (黒船来航) in 1853

China:

Emperor resisted institutional reform, importing modern weapons

Japan:

Shogun, resisting reform, ousted by Satsuma and other domains

Meiji-Japan built its own armaments industry

Society A:

(slightly) more inclusive

Society B:

(slightly) more extractive

Critical Juncture

Power balance tilted for the ruled

Inclusive institutions

Power balance tilted for the rulers

Extractive institutions

Theory of institutional divergence (cf. Lecture 5)

Today's Road Map

Australia

French Revolution

Spread of French Revolution to Western Europe

Term paper preparation #3

Meiji-Japan

Inclusive

Extractive

Both

Plurality

and

Centralized

State

Either

Absolutist

or

Lack of

Centralization

How to measure political institutions?

We need to measure the degrees of:

(1) plurality

(2) centralization

Measurement of plurality

Executive constraints from Polity IV dataset

"Extent of institutional constraints on the decision-making powers of the chief executive" (Polity IV Project: Data User's Manual, p. 62)

Known to positively affect GDP per capita (Acemoglu & Johnson (2005))

Takes the integer values from 1 to 7

See pp. 63-66 of Polity IV Project: Data User's Manual 

for what each value represents

See the column entitled "exconst"

If your country has values of -66, -77, -88:

See p. 17 of Polity IV Project: Data User's Manual 

Measurement of centralization

Tax revenue as % of GDP (cf. Lecture 3)

Positively associated with GDP per capita

Source: Figure 6a of Besley and Persson (2013)

Plurality and Centralization go hand in hand

Source: Daron Acemoglu (2013) "State Building: A Political Economy Perspective" Slides for Nemmers Prize Lecture, p. 15

For your term paper

Compare your country's data values to the rest of the world 

Trace your country's data values over time

Week Ten

Chapter 13

Weeks 8-10: Persistence of Extractive Institutions

Week Eight

Chapter 9

Week Nine

Chapter 12

Colonization of

Southeast Asia by

Europeans in 17c

Slave trade in

sub-Saharan

Africa

British colonization

of South Africa

in 19c

Guatemala

Sierra Leone 

Ethiopia

before/after

the 1974 coup

US South

before/after

American Civil War

Zimbabwe

Argentina

Colombia

North Korea

Uzbekistan

NEXT WEEK

Your to-do list until next class

Read Chapter 9 & its summary on page 299

and post questions on Prulu

1

2

3

Visualize economic performance & entry regulation

of the country of your choice (if you haven't)

Collect the data on political institutions

in the country of your choice

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