Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
宗教改革的不平等精神：近代早期德国的特殊主义与财富分配
The unequal spirit of the Protestant Reformation: particularism and wealth distribution in early modern Germany
摘要
This paper assesses 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 “deserving" poor and natives only. This gave Protestantism an ambiguous character in terms of redistribution and its impact on inequality. I develop a theoretical framework of this trade-off between welfare expansion and particularistic provision, and test its implications empirically, using a difference-in-differences and an instrumental variable strategy. In line with the theoretical framework, the analysis documents that the Reformation exacerbated inequality overall by making marginal poor people relatively poorer. This increase in inequality was driven by the introduction of new particularistic poor relief policies in Protestant communities. Economic growth was unlikely to be large enough to compensate poor strata for their losses. Protestantism emerges as an underappreciated driver of preindustrial inequality, long before the onset of industrialisation and modern economic growth.
中文摘要
本文评估了新教改革对1400至1800年间宗教分裂的德国财富分配与不平等状况的影响。改革扩大了社会福利，但仅以特殊主义方式提供给“值得”的穷人和本地居民。这使得新教在再分配及其对不平等的影响上呈现出矛盾特性。我构建了一个理论框架，探讨福利扩张与特殊主义供给之间的权衡，并采用双重差分法和工具变量策略对其含义进行实证检验。与理论框架一致，分析表明改革通过使边缘穷人相对更加贫困，总体上加剧了不平等。这一不平等加剧源于新教社区引入的新型特殊主义济贫政策。经济增长不太可能足以补偿贫困阶层所遭受的损失。新教由此显现为工业化及现代经济增长开始之前，一个未被充分认识的工业化前不平等驱动因素。