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Friday, 3 July, 2026
Flavio Malnati: Essays in Long-Run Development and Economic History
Defense Committee:
Šěpán Jurajda (CERGE-EI, chair)
Teresa Freitas Monteiro (CERGE-EI)
Josef Montag (Faculty of Law CU)
Dissertation Committee:
Christian Ochsner (CERGE-EI, chair)
Nikolas Mittag (CERGE-EI)
Paolo Zacchia (CERGE-EI and Ca' Foscari University of Venice)
Vasily Korovkin (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Sebastian Ottinger (CERGE-EI)
Andreas Menzel (University of Padova)
Referees:
Stefan Nikolić (Loughborough University)
Lukas Schmid (University of Lucerne)
Meeting link: https://cerge-ei.webex.com/cerge-ei/j.php?MTID=mb623213446f5a36290f06c6c1fc550fb
Meeting number: 2741 488 3905
Meeting password: 924631
Abstract:
This dissertation empirically investigates how long-run economic development is shaped by historical institutions, technological change, and social norms. While these forces typically evolve slowly, discrete shocks and historical events can generate sharp changes that allow their effects to be studied using quasi-natural experiments and modern econometric methods. The first chapter focuses on the rise and decline of the Teutonic Order in East Prussia between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. The analysis shows that economic development in areas under the Order’s rule closely followed the expansion and contraction of its state capacity. It also further documents more persistent pro-market institutions, stronger bureaucratic capacity, and greater economic integration in the Order territories relative to neighboring Polish areas. The chapter further documents persistent pro-market institutional arrangements and greater economic integration. The second chapter, co-authored with Christian Ochsner, studies the economic impact of transportation technology shocks. It exploits the unexpected repeal of the automobile ban in the Swiss canton of Grisons in 1925. The results show an immediate increase in firm registration and economic activity in Grisons compared to neighboring regions without any ban. The positive economic effects are more pronounced and more sustainable in places with a better starting position, indicating heterogeneous effects of technology usability and boom-and-bust cycles in disadvantaged and remote places. The third chapter, co-authored with Martina Miotto, investigates the long-term cultural consequences of colonial agricultural policies on gender norms in Africa. It shows that exposure to British colonial cash-crop production led to persistent changes in gender norms, increasing female empowerment among descendants of populations living in historically cash-crop-intensive districts.
Keywords: Long-run development; Economic history; Institutions; Persistence; Quasi-natural experiments
Full Text: "Essays in Long-Run Development and Economic History"
