Scars of war: the legacy of WW1 deaths on civic capital and combat motivation

Felipe Carozzi, Edward William Pinchbeck and Luca Repetto

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: What drives soldiers to risk their life in combat? We show that the legacy of war creates lasting conditions that encourage younger generations to take greater risks when fighting for their country. Using individual-level data from over 4 million British war records, we show that WWI deaths deeply affected local communities and the behaviour of the next generation of soldiers. Servicemen from localities that suffered heavier losses in WWI were more likely to die or to be awarded military honours for bravery in WW2. To explain these findings, we document that WWI deaths promoted civic capital in the inter-war period - as demonstrated by the creation of lasting war memorials, veterans' associations and charities, and increased voter participation. In addition, we show that sons of soldiers killed in WWI were more likely to die in combat, suggesting that both community-level and family-level transmission of values were important in this context.

Keywords: world war; combat motivation; conflict; civic capital; memory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 D91 O15 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 72 pages
Date: 2023-08-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-his and nep-soc
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121292/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Scars of war: the legacy of WW1 deaths on civic capital and combat motivation (2023)
Working Paper: Scars of War: The Legacy of WW1 Deaths on Civic Capital and Combat Motivation (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:121292

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