Financial Crises and Political Radicalization: How Failing Banks Paved Hitler's Path to Power

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Doerr, Sebastian; Gissler, Stefan; Peydro, Jose-Luis; Voth, Hans-Joachim
• 署名单位: Bank for International Settlements (BIS); Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve System Board of Governors; Imperial College London; Pompeu Fabra University; ICREA; Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI); University of Zurich
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13166
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 3339-3372
• 关键词: 1930S; Germany; origins

摘要

Do financial crises radicalize voters? We study Germany's 1931 banking crisis, collecting new data on bank branches and firm-bank connections. Exploiting cross-sectional variation in precrisis exposure to the bank at the center of the crisis, we show that Nazi votes surged in locations more affected by its failure. Radicalization in response to the shock was exacerbated in cities with a history of anti-Semitism. After the Nazis seized power, both pogroms and deportations were more frequent in places affected by the banking crisis. Our results suggest an important synergy between financial distress and cultural predispositions, with far-reaching consequences.