The French Revolution substantially impacted primary schools as it suppressed one of their major funding sources, taxes collected by the clergy. Nonetheless, the geographical distribution of schools and enrollment rates remained relatively stable until late into the nineteenth century. In this article, I show that understanding the reorganization of primary schooling after the Revolution is essential in accounting for these long-lasting variations. By using data at the level of schools and an IV strategy relying on the trade cost shock caused by the Napoleonic blockade, I first show that municipalities took over the control of instruction in richer and growing areas. Secondly, I demonstrate that, by subsidizing schools, municipal authorities contributed to lower schooling fees and to increase enrollment. Finally, I show that human capital accumulation was higher in the schools provided with public grants, which influenced positively the subsequent development of municipalities. Public investment in education is therefore a key determinant of knowledge accumulation in nineteenth-century France.

法国大革命压制了小学的主要资金来源之一，即神职人员收取的税款，对小学产生了重大影响。但是，直到19世纪后期，学校的地理分布和入学率仍保持相对稳定。在本文中，我表明，了解革命后的小学重组对于解决这些长期变化至关重要。通过使用学校一级的数据和依赖拿破仑封锁造成的贸易成本冲击的IV策略，我首先表明市政当局接管了较富裕和增长地区的教学控制。其次，我表明，市政当局通过补贴学校，为降低学费和增加入学率做出了贡献。最后，我表明，在获得公共补助的学校中，人力资本积累较高，这对市政当局随后的发展产生了积极影响。因此，对教育的公共投资是19世纪法国知识积累的关键决定因素。