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What Really Happened During the Glorious Revolution?

Author

Listed:
  • Steven C.A. Pincus
  • James A. Robinson
Abstract
The English Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 is one of the most famous instances of 'institutional' change in world history which has fascinated scholars because of the role it may have played in creating an environment conducive to making England the first industrial nation. This claim was most forcefully advanced by North and Weingast yet the existing literature in history and economic history dismisses their arguments. In this paper we argue that North and Weingast were entirely correct in arguing that the Glorious Revolution represented a critical change in institutions. In addition, and contrary to the claims of many historians, most of the things they claimed happened, for example parliamentary sovereignty, did happen. However, we argue that they happened for reasons different from those put forward by North and Weingast. We show that rather than being an instance of a de jure 're-writing the rules', as North and Weingast argued, the Glorious Revolution was actually an interlinked series of de facto institutional changes which came from a change in the balance of power and authority and was part of a broader reorientation in the political equilibrium of England. Moreover, it was significant for the economy not because it solved a problem of credible commitment, but for two other reasons. First, because the institutional changes it led to meant that party political ministries, rather than the king's private advisors, now initiated policy. Second, because these ministries were dominated by Whigs with a specific program of economic modernization.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven C.A. Pincus & James A. Robinson, 2011. "What Really Happened During the Glorious Revolution?," NBER Working Papers 17206, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17206
    Note: DAE POL
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Christian Fahrholz & Andreas Freytag, 2012. "A Way to Solve the Euro pean Balance of Payments Crisis? Take a Chance on Market Solutions!," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(1), pages 77-82, February.
    2. Mark Koyama, 2013. "Preindustrial Cliometrics," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 268-278, June.
    3. Madarász, Aladár, 2012. "Adósság, pénz és szabadság [Taxation, money and freedom]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 457-507.
    4. Seghezza, Elena, 2015. "Fiscal capacity and the risk of sovereign debt after the Glorious Revolution: A reinterpretation of the North–Weingast hypothesis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 71-81.
    5. David Le Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Sébastien Pouget, 2015. "The Development of Corporate Governance in Toulouse: 1372-1946," NBER Working Papers 21335, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Francesco Giovannoni & Leandro de Magalhaes, 2012. "War Financing and the Transition from Absolutism to Rule by Parliament," 2012 Meeting Papers 917, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Jordan Roulleau-Pasdeloup, 2016. "What Made Great Britain so Great? From the Fiscal-Military State to the First Industrial Revolution," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 16.02, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    8. Pranab Bardhan, 2015. "State and Economic Development: The Need for a Reappraisal of the Current Literature," Working Papers id:7060, eSocialSciences.
    9. Christian Fahrholz & Andreas Freytag, 2012. "A Way to Solve the Euro pean Balance of Payments Crisis? Take a Chance on Market Solutions!," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(SPECIALIS), pages 77-82, February.
    10. Noel D., Johnson & Mark, Koyama, 2012. "Standardizing the fiscal state: cabal tax farming as an Intermediate Institution in early-modern England and France," MPRA Paper 40403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Pablo Beramendi & Melissa Rogers, 2021. "Disparate geography and the origins of tax capacity," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 213-237, January.
    12. Sussman, Nathan, 2019. "The Financial Development of London in the 17th Century Revisited: A View from the Accounts of the Corporation of London," CEPR Discussion Papers 13920, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2014. "Tax farming and the origins of state capacity in England and France," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-20.
    14. Christian Fahrholz & Andreas Freytag, 2011. "Ein Lösungsweg für die europäische Zahlungsbilanzkrise? Mehr Markt wagen!," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 64(16), pages 73-78, September.
    15. Pranab Bardhan, 2016. "State and Development: The Need for a Reappraisal of the Current Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(3), pages 862-892, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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