From the Death of God to the Rise of Hitler

Sascha O Sascha O. Becker and Hans-Joachim Voth
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Sascha O Sascha O. Becker: Department of Economics, Monash University and University of Warwick, CAGE, CESifo, CEH@ANU, CReAM, CEPR, Ifo, IZA, ROA, RF Berlin, and SoDa Labs.
Hans-Joachim Voth: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, UBS Center for Economics in Society, CAGE and CEPR.

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

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.

Keywords: Political Religion; Behavioral Political Economy; Voting; Nazi Party; Protestantism; Shallow Christianity; Political Religion; Paganism. JEL Codes: N13; N14; N44; P16; Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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