> why France managed to modernize so well in XIXth, even though it had bad institutions. I've mostly read about France's rural history in the 19th century, but

> why France managed to modernize so well in XIXth, even though it had bad institutions. I've mostly read about France's rural history in the 19th century, but imho its institutions were not that bad, whatever the term might mean for the 19th century. Afaik both Louis Philippe I and Napoleon III were pretty laissez-faire when it came to business, an attitude that proved successful for the first waves of industrialisation. Napoleon III's reign also added some proto-Keynes-ian touches to France's economy. A very quick search gave me this quick write-up on the issue [1]: > Napoléon III also directed the building of the French railway network, which greatly contributed to the development of the coal mining and steel industry in France, radically changing the nature of the French economy, which entered the modern age of large-scale capitalism. The French economy, the second largest in the world at the time (behind the United Kingdom), experienced a very strong growth during the reign of Napoléon III. Names such as steel tycoon Eugène Schneider or banking mogul James de Rothschild are symbols of the period [1] https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Napoleon_III#Developing_France.E2.80.99s_infrastructure https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Napoleon_III#Deve...