The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution
利用法国大革命期间没收并拍卖天主教会财产这一自然实验，研究发现拍卖土地比例越高的地区，19世纪中叶农业生产力、灌溉投资和土地利用效率越高，但这一优势随时间逐渐消失。
This study exploits the confiscation and auctioning off of Catholic Church property that occurred during the French Revolution to assess the role played by transaction costs in delaying the reallocation of property rights in the aftermath of fundamental institutional reform. French districts with a greater proportion of land redistributed during the Revolution experienced higher levels of agricultural productivity in 1841 and 1852, more investment in irrigation, and more efficient land use. We trace these increases in productivity to an increase in land inequality associated with the Revolution-era auction process. We also show how the benefits associated with the head start given to districts with more church land initially, and thus greater land redistribution by auction during the Revolution, dissipated over the course of the 19th century as other districts gradually overcame the transaction costs associated with reallocating feudal system property rights.