THE LONG-TERM COSTS OF GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE: INSIGHTS FROM STASI SPYING IN EAST GERMANY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lichter, Andreas; Loeffler, Max; Siegloch, Sebastian
• 署名单位: Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf; Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW); University of Mannheim; Maastricht University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvaa009
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 741-789
• 关键词: trust; state; repression; origins; culture; PSYCHOLOGY; RISK

摘要

We investigate the long-run effects of government surveillance on civic capital and economic performance, studying the case of the Stasi in East Germany. Exploiting regional variation in the number of spies and administrative features of the system, we combine a border discontinuity design with an instrumental variable strategy to estimate the long-term, post-reunification effect of government surveillance. We find that a higher spying density led to persistently lower levels of interpersonal and institutional trust in post-reunification Germany. We also find substantial and long-lasting economic effects of Stasi surveillance, resulting in lower income, higher exposure to unemployment, and lower self-employment.