Political Extremism in the 1920s and 1930s: Do German Lessons Generalize?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Oxford; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050713000302
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 371-406
• 关键词: western-europe; PARTIES; hitler

摘要

We examine the impact of the Great Depression on the share of votes for right-wing extremists in elections in the 1920s and 1930s. We confirm the existence of a link between political extremism and economic hard times as captured by growth or contraction of the economy. What mattered was not simply growth at the time of the election, but cumulative growth performance. The impact was greatest in countries with relatively short histories of democracy, with electoral systems that created low hurdles to parliamentary representation, and which had been on the losing side in World War I.