Persistent effects of empires: Evidence from the partitions of Poland

Irena Grosfeld and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya

No 9371, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We use spatial regression discontinuity analysis to test whether the historical partition of Poland among three empires?Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Prussia?has a persistent effect on political outcomes in contemporary Poland and to examine the channels of this influence. We find that the main difference in voting across Polish territories attributed by many observers to the legacy of empires is driven by omitted variables. However, empires do have a significant causal effect. The lands that belonged to Prussia (compared with those that belonged to Russia) vote more for anticommunist (post-Solidarity) parties. This difference is largely explained by the persistent effect of infrastructure built by Prussians at the time of industrialization. The former Austrian lands (compared with former Russian lands) votes more for religious conservatives and for liberals. The difference in the vote for religious conservatives is explained by persistent differences in church attendance driven by vastly different policies of the two empires toward the Catholic Church. Higher support for liberals on the Austrian side is partly explained by a persistent belief in democracy, which is a legacy of decentralized democratic governance of the Austrian empire.

Keywords: Culture; Empires; Infrastructure; Partitions of poland; Persistence; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 P43 P48 P50 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-his and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Persistent effects of empires: Evidence from the partitions of Poland (2023)
Working Paper: Persistent effects of empires: Evidence from the partitions of Poland (2023)
Working Paper: Persistent effects of empires: Evidence from the partitions of Poland (2013)
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