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Urbanization and Electoral Success: Lawyers and Workers in Interwar France

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  • Raphaël Franck
  • Victor Gay

Abstract

This study argues that urbanization altered the relationship between candidates’ occupation and their electoral success. To identify the causal effect of local variation in urbanization, we exploit exogenous changes in the boundaries of electoral constituencies in the 1928, 1932, and 1936 French parliamentary elections. We find that urbanization was detrimental to the electoral success of lawyers, but beneficial to that of employees and workers. This effect was concentrated on the left of the political spectrum, whereby left-wing employees and workers crowded out left-wing lawyers.

Suggested Citation

  • Raphaël Franck & Victor Gay, 2024. "Urbanization and Electoral Success: Lawyers and Workers in Interwar France," CESifo Working Paper Series 10885, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10885
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp10885.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Raphaël Franck, 2016. "The Political Consequences of Income Shocks: Explaining the Consolidation of Democracy in France," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 57-82, March.
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    3. Jean-Marie Baland & James A. Robinson, 2008. "Land and Power: Theory and Evidence from Chile," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1737-1765, December.
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    7. Victor Gay, 2021. "Mapping the Third Republic: A Geographic Information System of France (1870–1940)," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(4), pages 189-207, November.
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    9. Stefano Gagliarducci & Tommaso Nannicini, 2013. "Do Better Paid Politicians Perform Better? Disentangling Incentives From Selection," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 369-398, April.
    10. Andrew Beath & Fotini Christia & Georgy Egorov & Ruben Enikolopov, 2016. "Electoral Rules and Political Selection: Theory and Evidence from a Field Experiment in Afghanistan," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(3), pages 932-968.
    11. Christian Bougeard, 1985. "Prémices de la décentralisation : la création d'entreprises industrielles dans les Côtes-du-Nord (1870-1940)," Histoire, économie & société, Programme National Persée, vol. 4(1), pages 137-160.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    election; political representation; urbanization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K16 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Election Law
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N94 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: 1913-

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