Book contents
- Imperial Borderlands
- Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series
- Imperial Borderlands
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Historical States, Imperialism, and Development
- 2 Imperialism and Extractive Institutions: A Theoretical Framework
- 3 The Habsburg Military Frontier
- 4 Military Colonialism and Economic Development
- 5 Colonial Institutions and Social Norms
- 6 Lasting Legacies Political Attitudes and Social Capital
- 7 Beyond the Habsburgs
- Epilogue
- Book part
- Primary Sources
- Index
4 - Military Colonialism and Economic Development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2023
- Imperial Borderlands
- Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series
- Imperial Borderlands
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Historical States, Imperialism, and Development
- 2 Imperialism and Extractive Institutions: A Theoretical Framework
- 3 The Habsburg Military Frontier
- 4 Military Colonialism and Economic Development
- 5 Colonial Institutions and Social Norms
- 6 Lasting Legacies Political Attitudes and Social Capital
- 7 Beyond the Habsburgs
- Epilogue
- Book part
- Primary Sources
- Index
Summary
Much has been written on the history of the Habsburg Military Frontier; much less on its legacies. Chapter 4 presents evidence for the key institutional properties of military colonialism. The two striking socioeconomic insights that emerge from the data reported in the censuses of Imperial Hungary are that land equality and communal property rights remained much more prevalent in the borderlands even decades after the abrogation of the military colony. The absence of large consolidated land holdings and of a landless rural working class, held back the modernization of agriculture and the growth of farm productivity, as well as the spread of manufacturing. Similarly, historical and modern data on access to public goods suggest that the asymmetry between regions formerly under civilian and military administrations persisted over time to the present day. We cannot attribute these results to (1) temporal intermediary treatment factors that could have affected the treatment and the control group differentially, (2) structural treatment factors that could have influenced the treatment group simply by being located in a border area, and (3) alternative mechanisms by which military colonialism affected the way the state behaved in the former military colony.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Imperial BorderlandsInstitutions and Legacies of the Habsburg Military Frontier, pp. 100 - 137Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023