Irrigation and Autocracy

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

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Irrigation and Autocracy. / Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding; Kaarsen, Nicolai; Wingender, Asger Moll.

In: Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2017, p. 1-53.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Bentzen, JS, Kaarsen, N & Wingender, AM 2017, 'Irrigation and Autocracy', Journal of the European Economic Association, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12173

APA

Bentzen, J. S., Kaarsen, N., & Wingender, A. M. (2017). Irrigation and Autocracy. Journal of the European Economic Association, 15(1), 1-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12173

Vancouver

Bentzen JS, Kaarsen N, Wingender AM. Irrigation and Autocracy. Journal of the European Economic Association. 2017;15(1):1-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeea.12173

Author

Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding ; Kaarsen, Nicolai ; Wingender, Asger Moll. / Irrigation and Autocracy. In: Journal of the European Economic Association. 2017 ; Vol. 15, No. 1. pp. 1-53.

Bibtex

@article{57bf75bf8524451e949719b70c8fbc52,
title = "Irrigation and Autocracy",
abstract = "Irrigated agriculture makes societies more likely to be ruled by authoritarian regimes. Ancient societies have long been thought to follow this pattern. We empirically show that irrigation affects political regimes even in the present. To avoid endogeneity, we use geographical and climatic variation to identify irrigation dependent societies. We find that countries whose agriculture depended on irrigation are about six points less democratic on the 21-point polity2 scale than countries where agriculture has been rainfed. We find qualitatively similar results across regions within countries. We argue that the effect has historical origins: irrigation allowed landed elites in arid areas to monopolize water and arable land. This made elites more powerful and better able to oppose democratization. Consistent with this conjecture, we show that irrigation dependence predicts land inequality both at the country level, and in premodern societies surveyed by ethnographers. (JEL: O11, N50, Q15)",
author = "Bentzen, {Jeanet Sinding} and Nicolai Kaarsen and Wingender, {Asger Moll}",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.1111/jeea.12173",
language = "English",
volume = "15",
pages = "1--53",
journal = "Journal of the European Economic Association",
issn = "1542-4774",
publisher = "Wiley",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Irrigation and Autocracy

AU - Bentzen, Jeanet Sinding

AU - Kaarsen, Nicolai

AU - Wingender, Asger Moll

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Irrigated agriculture makes societies more likely to be ruled by authoritarian regimes. Ancient societies have long been thought to follow this pattern. We empirically show that irrigation affects political regimes even in the present. To avoid endogeneity, we use geographical and climatic variation to identify irrigation dependent societies. We find that countries whose agriculture depended on irrigation are about six points less democratic on the 21-point polity2 scale than countries where agriculture has been rainfed. We find qualitatively similar results across regions within countries. We argue that the effect has historical origins: irrigation allowed landed elites in arid areas to monopolize water and arable land. This made elites more powerful and better able to oppose democratization. Consistent with this conjecture, we show that irrigation dependence predicts land inequality both at the country level, and in premodern societies surveyed by ethnographers. (JEL: O11, N50, Q15)

AB - Irrigated agriculture makes societies more likely to be ruled by authoritarian regimes. Ancient societies have long been thought to follow this pattern. We empirically show that irrigation affects political regimes even in the present. To avoid endogeneity, we use geographical and climatic variation to identify irrigation dependent societies. We find that countries whose agriculture depended on irrigation are about six points less democratic on the 21-point polity2 scale than countries where agriculture has been rainfed. We find qualitatively similar results across regions within countries. We argue that the effect has historical origins: irrigation allowed landed elites in arid areas to monopolize water and arable land. This made elites more powerful and better able to oppose democratization. Consistent with this conjecture, we show that irrigation dependence predicts land inequality both at the country level, and in premodern societies surveyed by ethnographers. (JEL: O11, N50, Q15)

U2 - 10.1111/jeea.12173

DO - 10.1111/jeea.12173

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84976907406

VL - 15

SP - 1

EP - 53

JO - Journal of the European Economic Association

JF - Journal of the European Economic Association

SN - 1542-4774

IS - 1

ER -

ID: 186122931