With use of innovative proxies and new annual data, I demonstrate that relatively high legal capacity and regulatory activity of the early-modern Polish parliament, the Seym, was positively associated with deeper domestic commodity market integration. Conversely, the lack of effective law-making, caused by the right of a single delegate to discontinue the Seym’s sessions, fostered market fragmentation. This indicates that early parliamentary regimes required legal capacity to harmonize domestic institutions and reduce the transaction costs. The Polish case suggests a hypothesis that the pre-1800 “Little Divergence” between European parliamentary regimes could be explained by differences in their governments’ capacities.

中文翻译：

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国家失败的经济后果——波兰的法律能力、监管活动和市场一体化，1505-1772

通过使用创新的代理和新的年度数据，我证明了早期现代波兰议会 Seym 相对较高的法律能力和监管活动与更深入的国内商品市场整合呈正相关。相反，由于单一代表有权终止西姆会议，导致缺乏有效的立法，从而助长了市场分裂。这表明早期的议会制度需要法律能力来协调国内机构并降低交易成本。波兰的案例提出了一个假设，即 1800 年前欧洲议会制度之间的“小分歧”可以用它们政府能力的差异来解释。