Austerity and the Rise of the Nazi Party

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Universidad Publica de Navarra; University of California System; University of California Davis; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of London; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Bocconi University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050720000601
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 81-113
• 关键词: constraints; DEPRESSION; Germany

摘要

We study the link between fiscal austerity and Nazi electoral success. Voting data from a thousand districts and a hundred cities for four elections between 1930 and 1933 show that areas more affected by austerity (spending cuts and tax increases) had relatively higher vote shares for the Nazi Party. We also find that the localities with relatively high austerity experienced relatively high suffering (measured by mortality rates) and these areas' electorates were more likely to vote for the Nazi Party. Our findings are robust to a range of specifications including an instrumental variable strategy and a border-pair policy discontinuity design.