Highway to Hitler

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Voigtlander, Nico; Voth, Hans-Joachim
• 署名单位: University of California Los Angeles; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Zurich
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20180816
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: growth; DEMOCRACY; IMPACT; ELECTIONS; railroads; transfers; Germany; TRADE; rise; LAW

摘要

We show that the building of the Autobahn network in Nazi Germany boosted popular support forAdolf Hitler, helping to entrench the Nazi dictatorship. Direct local economic benefits are unlikely to explain the effect. Instead, it reflects successful propaganda: The regime portrayed the Autobahn as a symbol of recovery and the end of austerity. Support rose particularly strongly where highway construction coincided with greater radio availability and in politically unstable regions. Our findings suggest that visible infrastructure projects can raise support for autocratic regimes when voters are led to associate them with economic progress and an end to political instability. (JEL D72, E32, H54, N44, N94, R42, R53)