Bismarck’s Welfare State and the Socialists

Felix Kersting

No 20883, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: This paper examines the political consequences of introducing the welfare state targeted at blue-collar workers in 19th-century Germany. I conceptualize Bismarck’s reform as an accommodation strategy to combat the socialist party as an emerging challenger party. The result of a difference-in-differences design shows that the socialist party benefited in elections due to the reform. The mechanism analysis points to the socialists’ issue ownership by adopting a stronger reformist stance. The results are not driven by other political and economic channels related to the reform.

Keywords: Welfare state; Socialism; Imperial germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 H53 I38 N44 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
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