Calendrier du 15 février 2022
PSI-PSE (Petit Séminaire Informel de la Paris School of Economics) Seminar
Du 15/02/2022 de 17:00 à 18:00
R1-13, Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/94740575953
HUANG Yuchen (PSE)
Multi-dimensional Fairness Preferences and Reasoning of Redistribution: Online Experiments in Contemporary China
Applied Economics Lunch Seminar
Du 15/02/2022 de 12:30 à 13:30
Salle R1.09 PSE
SCHAFF Felix (LSE)
The Unequal Spirit of the Protestant Reformation: Particularism and Wealth Distribution in Early Modern Germany
This paper studies the impact of the Protestant Reformation on wealth distribution and inequality
in confessionally divided Germany, between 1400 and 1800. The Reformation expanded
social welfare, but provided it in a particularistic way to insiders only. This gave Protestantism
an ambiguous character in terms of redistribution and its impact on inequality. I model that
trade-off theoretically and test its implications empirically, using a Difference-in-Differences and
an Instrumental Variable strategy. In line with the theoretical framework, I document that the
Reformation exacerbated inequality overall, by making marginal poor people relatively poorer.
The result is driven by the introduction of particularistic poor relief institutions in Protestant
communities. These brought about a new low-redistribution equilibrium. The inegalitarian
character of Protestantism, typically found in contemporary societies, can be traced back to the
beginning of the Reformation in the sixteenth century.