Politics through the Lens of Economics

Lecture 12

Survival of Inclusive Institutions:

19th-century UK and 20th-century US

January 8, 2019

Masayuki Kudamatsu

Chapter 11 of Why Nations Fail

Week 13

Chapter 6

Week 11

Chapter 14

United Kingdom

in 19c

 

United States

in early 20c

Republic of Venice

 

 

Roman Republic

Weeks 11-13: Survival of Inclusive Institutions

Botswana

 

 

US South

in the 1950s-1960s

 

Brazil

since the 1970s

Week 12

Chapter 11

Today's theme:

What makes inclusive institutions survive?

Inclusive

institutions

Rule of law

Economic growth

with

income equality

Free Media

Today's Road Map

Rule of Law

Free Media

Expansion of Inclusive Institutions

Black Act in 19th-century U.K.

Franklin Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing in U.S.

Robber Barons in early 20th-century U.S.

First and Second Reform Acts in UK

Today's theme:

What makes inclusive institutions survive?

Inclusive

institutions

Rule of law

Economic growth

with

income equality

Free Media

Rule of Law (pp. 305-307)

Laws should not be applied selectively or arbitrarily

Nobody is above the law

Emerged as a by-product of pluralist political institutions

To ensure that no one amasses too much power

Whigs and Black Act in 19th-century U.K.

Franklin Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing in U.S.

How the rule of law protects inclusive institutions

Two examples:

Whigs

Members of the Whig political party, founded in 1670s

Represent the interests of trans-Atlantic traders (Lecture 5)

Play active role in Glorious Revolution of 1688

Dominate Parliament for 1714-1760

Sir Robert Walpole

Prime Minister (1721-41) 

Earl William Cadogan

Acting Commander in Chief

Some prominent Whigs

Whigs' encroachment of commoners' rights

Whigs build a grand house & ornate gardens with a deer park

Chatsworth House in late 18c

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

By

 

graze animals

hunt rabbits

collect firewood

evicting people around the estate

abrogating their traditional rights to

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

That is...

?

"Blacks"

Local men across southern England

who have their face blackened 

to kill animals, burn haystacks & barns, destroy fences & fish ponds

As a protest to Whigs' encroachment of their rights

Earl Cadogan's estate at Caversham

e.g.

Raided by blacks who killed 16 deer

on January 1, 1722

Raided again in July 1722

Black Act of 1723

Passed by Parliament (dominated by Whigs)

Create 50 new offences punishable by hanging

Having a blackened face

Soon several "Blacks" were arrested

e.g.

John Huntridge

Local resident outside the park of Sir Walpole's estate

e.g.

Rule of Law in action

At the trial for John Huntridge:

The jury: major landowners sympathetic with Walpole

But... Huntridge: found innocent

due to irregularities on how evidence was collected

Walpole himself presents evidence for his guilt

Whigs and Black Act in 19th-century U.K.

Franklin Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing in U.S.

How the rule of law protects inclusive institutions

Two examples:

Great Depression in U.S. during the 1930s

Unemployment rate: 33% in 1933

Industrial production falls by over 50% from 1929 to 1933

U.S. Real GDP in 1910-1960

(billions of constant 2005 US$)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

U.S. President for 1933-1945

Saved the U.S. economy from Great Depression with his New Deal policies

e.g.

Public investment in infrastructure

by hiring unemployed people

Supreme Court challenges New Deal policies

Title I of National Industrial Recovery Act

Restrain industrial competition

Give workers greater rights to form trade unions

Regulate working standards

Ruled unconstitutional on May 27, 1935 (Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States)

U.S. Supreme Court judges 1932-37

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Supreme Court challenges New Deal policies (cont.)

Other New Deal acts whose constitutionality was challenged

Social Security Act

National Labor Relations Act

Strengthens workers' rights to organize unions

Introduces pensions, unemployment benefits, public health care, disability benefits

Roosevelt:

wants to replace conservative judges with his supporters

Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing

1936

Re-elected as president with 61% of votes

1937

Presents Judiciary Reorganization Bill

Compulsory retirement of Supreme Court judges at 70

President appoints up to 6 new judges

It would allow Roosevelt

to remove conservative judges opposed to New Deal

cf. Court-packing by presidents in Argentina (Lecture 10)

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

That is...

?

Rule of Law in action

Opinion polls: only 40% in favor of the bill

Louis Brandeis, a Supreme Court justice

opposed despite his support for New Deal policies

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Democratic Party members in Lower House:

refused to deal with the bill

Senate: voted the bill down by 70 to 20

Supreme Court took down its charges against New Deal policies, though

Why the elite abide by the rule of law?

(pp. 307-309, 313, 332-333)

Temporary suspension

of the rule of law

A narrow group of people

may take control

of political process

in the future

Why didn't Whigs ignore the judicial process?

Why didn't Congress support Roosevelt's court-packing?

Because:

For Whigs in 18c U.K.

the narrow group of people: those trying to restore absolutism 

Attempts to restore absolutism in 18c U.K.

James Francis Edward Stuart (James II's son)

Recognized as lawful heir to English Crown by France, Spain, & the Pope

Attempts to take back the throne in 1708

(with support of French troops)

Charles Edward Stuart (the Young Pretender)

Gets all the way to Derby, 100 miles from London, in 1745 (Jacobite rising of 1745)

Their supporters: known as Jacobites 

Whigs

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Suspend

the rule of law

Abide by

the rule of law

Succeed

Succeed

Fail

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Fail

Worst outcome for Whigs

Worst outcome for Whigs

Consider Whigs' decision on whether to suspend the rule of law

Whigs

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Suspend

the rule of law

Abide by

the rule of law

Succeed

Succeed

Fail

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Fail

Worst outcome for Whigs

Worst outcome for Whigs

Jacobites: more likely to succeed if the rule of law breaks down

Whigs

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Suspend

the rule of law

Abide by

the rule of law

Succeed

Succeed

Fail

Jacobites' attempt to restore absolutism

Fail

Worst outcome for Whigs

Worst outcome for Whigs

To avoid the worst outcome, Whigs abide by the rule of law

In the case of U.S. Congress:

Roosevelt, backed by those voters supporting him,

would have closed Congress in the future

President Alberto Fujimori of Peru

This path was actually followed in the 1990s by:

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

Image source: thefamouspeople.com

Image source: biography.com

Today's Road Map

Rule of Law

Free Media

Expansion of Inclusive Institutions

Black Act in 19th-century U.K.

Franklin Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing in U.S.

Robber Barons in early 20th-century U.S.

First and Second Reform Acts in UK

Today's theme:

What makes inclusive institutions survive?

Inclusive

institutions

Rule of law

Economic growth

with

income equality

Free Media

Free Media (pp. 309, 333-334)

Allowed to flourish by pluralism

English state stopped censoring the media

after Glorious Revolution of 1688

Let the public be aware of attempts to suspend pluralism

& help them organize protests against it

Example: Robber Barons in U.S. during late 19c and early 20c

e.g.

Robber Barons

Large trusts emerge in almost every sector of the economy in 1890s

Du Pont (gunpowder)

Kodak (camera)

International Harvester (agricultural machinery)

J.P. Morgan (banking)

Standard Oil Company (refined oil)

American Tobacco Company (cigarettes)

Robber Barons (cont.)

They attempt to monopolize the market

i.e. Challenge to inclusive economic institutions

CEOs of these large trusts: known as "robber barons"

"Next!" Puck Magazine, 1904, depicting Standard Oil's monopolistic behavior over steel, copper, shipping industries and even Congress 

Image source: ExplorePAhistory.com

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

That is...

?

Founded in 1867

Mobilize farmers

against unfair business practices

Promotional poster in  1873

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Won control of 11 midwestern state legislature in 1873-74

Farmers: driving force against Robber Barons

Nearly all 59 petitions on trusts sent to Congress until 1890:

submitted by farmer organizations

Famers' Union, Farmers' Alliance, Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association, Patrons of Animal Husbandry

e.g.

Farmers: driving force against Robber Barons (cont.)

formed to represent farmers' interests

People's Party

won 8.5% of votes in 1892 presidential election

William Jennings Bryan

took up their political agenda

as Democratic Party's presidential candidate

from 1896

Poster for People's Party presidential candidates im 1892

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Federal anti-trust legislations

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

still a major part of U.S. antitrust legulation today

used by President Theodore Roosevelt to break up

Northern Securities Company, a railway trust by J.P. Morgan

Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914

enforced by newly-created Federal Trade Commission

strengthens the Sherman Act

Federal Reserve Board

created in 1913

to regulate monopolistic activities in financial sector

Role of mass media (known as "muckrakers")

History of the Standard Oil Company

by Ida Tarbell in 1904

Leads to the break up of the company in 1911

as Supreme Court ruled that it violated Sherman Act

Publicizes findings from the Pujo Committee (1912-13)

which investigated the "money trust"

Today's Road Map

Rule of Law

Free Media

Expansion of Inclusive Institutions

Black Act in 19th-century U.K.

Franklin Roosevelt's attempt of court-packing in U.S.

Robber Barons in early 20th-century U.S.

First and Second Reform Acts in UK

Today's theme:

What makes inclusive institutions survive?

Inclusive

institutions

Rule of law

Economic growth

with

income equality

Free Media

Incentive for the elite under inclusive institutions

Economic growth

Coup against

inclusive institutions:

costly for the elite

(pp. 313-314)

Income equality

Clinging to power:

not very valuable

(pp. 314, 333)

Costly to repress

protests (pp. 309, 314)

Elite & masses

have equal

resources

Inclusive institutions

Elite allow inclusive institutions to expand

Example:

Franchise extension in U.K. during 19th-20th centuries

Social unrest in UK 1800-1830

Luddite Riots (1811-16)

Swing Riots (1830)

July Revolution (1830)

Protests against new technologies

Demonstrations for universal suffrage

British elite feel threatened by disenfranchised masses

Political regime overthrown in France

First Reform Act of 1832

Extends the franchise from 8% to 16% of adult male population

Gives Parliament seats

for new industrializing cities (Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield)

Government's intention is far from democratization, though

"My object is not to favour, but to put an end to such hopes (as universal suffrage and secret ballots)... The principle of my reform is, to prevent the necessity of revolution..." (Prime Minister Earl Charles Grey)

Chartist Movement

Campaigns for universal suffrage from 1838

Chartist meeting on 10 April 1848 at Kennington Common (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Demonstrators for universal suffrage

pushed down the railings to enter Hyde Park in London

Image source: Turbulent London

Illustration that appeared in Illustrated London News

Second Reform Act of 1867

Doubles the enfranchised population

Working-class voters form majority in all urban constituencies

Third Reform Act of 1884

Secret ballots: introduced shortly after

60% of adult males enfranchised

Representation of the People Act of 1918

Enfranchises all adult men over 21

& women over 30 paying taxes or married to tax payers

In 1928 all women over 21 enfranchised

Gradual reforms towards universal suffrage

Today's theme:

What makes inclusive institutions survive?

Inclusive

institutions

Rule of law

Economic growth

with

income equality

Free Media

Week 13

Chapter 6

Week 11

Chapter 14

United Kingdom

in 19c

 

United States

in early 20c

Republic of Venice

 

 

Roman Republic

Weeks 11-13: Survival of Inclusive Institutions

Botswana

 

 

US South

in the 1950s-1960s

 

Brazil

since the 1970s

Week 12

Chapter 11

Next week

Your to-do list until next class

Read Chapter 6 (except pp. 175-179)

and post questions on Prulu

1

2

3

Work on your term paper

Prepare questions on your term paper

Politics through the Lens of Economics (2018): Lecture 12

By Masayuki Kudamatsu

Politics through the Lens of Economics (2018): Lecture 12

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