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From the Death of God to the Rise of Hitler

Author

Listed:
  • Sascha O. Becker, Sascha O

    (Department of Economics, Monash University and University of Warwick, CAGE, CESifo, CEH@ANU, CReAM, CEPR, Ifo, IZA, ROA, RF Berlin, and SoDa Labs.)

  • Voth, Hans-Joachim

    (Department of Economics, University of Zurich, UBS Center for Economics in Society, CAGE and CEPR.)

Abstract
Can weakened religiosity lead to the rise of totalitarianism? The Nazi Party set itself up as a political religion, emphasizing redemption, sacrifice, rituals, and communal spirit. This had a major impact on its success: Where the Christian Church only had shallow roots, the Nazis received higher electoral support and saw more party entry. shallow Christianity reflects the geography of medieval Christianization and the strength of pagan practices, which we use as sources of exogenous variation. We also find predictive power at the individual level : Within each municipality, the likelihood of joining the Nazi Party was higher for those with less Christian first names.

Suggested Citation

  • Sascha O. Becker, Sascha O & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2023. "From the Death of God to the Rise of Hitler," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1478, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1478
    as

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    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2023/twerp_1478_-becker.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Davide Cantoni & Jeremiah Dittmar & Noam Yuchtman, 2018. "Religious Competition and Reallocation: the Political Economy of Secularization in the Protestant Reformation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 2037-2096.
    2. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 531-596.
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    4. Doerr, Sebastian & Gissler, Stefan & Peydró, José-Luis & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2022. "Financial crises and political radicalization: How failing banks paved Hitler’s path to power," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 77(6), pages 3339-3372.
    5. Shanker Satyanath & Nico Voigtländer & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2017. "Bowling for Fascism: Social Capital and the Rise of the Nazi Party," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 478-526.
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    8. Alessandro Lizzeri & Nicola Persico, 2004. "Why did the Elites Extend the Suffrage? Democracy and the Scope of Government, with an Application to Britain's "Age of Reform"," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 707-765.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political Religion ; Behavioral Political Economy ; Voting; Nazi Party ; Protestantism ; Shallow Christianity ; Political Religion ; Paganism. JEL Codes: N13 ; N14 ; N44 ; P16 ; ; Z18;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N14 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Z18 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Public Policy

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