Droughts, Conflict, and the Importance of Democratic Legitimacy: Evidence from Pre-Industrial Europe

Wigton-Jones, Evan

Publication:
Droughts, Conflict, and the Importance of Democratic Legitimacy: Evidence from Pre-Industrial Europe

dc.contributor.author	Wigton-Jones, Evan
dc.date.accessioned	2025-11-17T16:02:07Z
dc.date.issued	2022-02-15
dc.description	This is a preprint version of the article and has not been peer-reviewed. Click the DOI to find the published version of the article.
dc.description.abstract	This research shows that droughts are robustly associated with city-level unrest in Europe over the years 900 to 1800 CE. This relationship is non-linear, with disproportionately greater increases in the probability of a conflict among droughts in the upper tail of the severity distribution. Elected city governments are relatively immune to drought-induced conflict, while those based on representation by burghers or guilds are not. These results suggest that local governments are key to maintaining social stability during economic shocks, and are most successful when they have a greater degree of democratic legitimacy.
dc.identifier.citation	Wigton-Jones, E. (2025). Droughts, conflicts, and the importance of democratic legitimacy: Evidence from pre-industrial Europe. The Journal of Economic History, 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050725100922
dc.identifier.uri	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022050725100922
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.husson.edu/handle/20.500.14298/965
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	SSRN
dc.title	Droughts, Conflict, and the Importance of Democratic Legitimacy: Evidence from Pre-Industrial Europe
dc.type	Preprint
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	49d42fdc-a67e-4921-81da-e30c84535d2d