New Article on German Cities That Began to Provide Public Goods in 1500s.

This is very interesting:

Origins of growth: How state institutions forged during the Protestant Reformation drove development.

Jeremiah Dittmar, Ralf R Meisenzahl. Vox 26 April 2016.

Throughout history, most states have functioned as kleptocracies and not as providers of public goods. This column analyses the diffusion of legal institutions that established Europe’s first large-scale experiments in mass public education. These institutions originated in Germany during the Protestant Reformation due to popular political mobilisation, but only in around half of Protestant cities. Cities that formalised these institutions grew faster over the next 200 years, both by attracting and by producing more highly skilled residents.