The Empire is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long‐Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy

摘要: We hypothesise that the Habsburg Empire with its well-respected administration increased citizens’ trust in local public services. In several Eastern European countries, communities on both sides of long-gone border have shared common formal institutions for a century now. use specification and two-dimensional geographic regression discontinuity design to identify from individuals living within restricted band around former border. find historical affiliation increases current reduces corruption courts police. Falsification tests spuriously moved borders, pre-existing differences interpersonal corroborate genuine effect.