Imperialism, socialism and economic development : new economic history of institutional change in Yugoslavia

Abstract

This dissertation uses cliometric methods to examine how institutional change shaped economic development in Yugoslavia. Three chapters analyze distinct regimes: (1) Habsburg vs. Ottoman legacies; Habsburg state capacity and human capital explain most of the interwar industrialization gap; (2) railway construction in colonial Bosnia; effects were conditional on local absorptive capacity (human capital, enforcement); without it, railways could cause re-agriculturalisation; (3) labour-managed socialism in Friuli Venezia Giulia - this regime helped absorb partition shocks despite initial backwardness, challenging conventional critiques. Overall, institutional effects are persistent but interactive: neither imperialism nor socialism was uniformly harmful. Catch-up growth arose from combinations of positive imperial legacies (e.g., Habsburg state capacity) with decentralized frameworks like labour-managed socialism.