Highway to Hitler

Nico Voigtländer () and Hans-Joachim Voth

No 156, ECON - Working Papers from Department of Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: Can infrastructure investment win "hearts and minds"? We analyze a famous case in the early stages of dictatorship - the building of the motorway network in Nazi Germany. The Autobahn was one of the most important projects of the Hitler government. It was intended to reduce unemployment, and was widely used for propaganda purposes. We examine its role in increasing support for the NS regime by analyzing new data on motorway construction and the 1934 plebiscite, which gave Hitler great powers as head of state. Our results suggest that road building was highly effective, reducing opposition to the nascent Nazi regime.

Keywords: Political economy; infrastructure spending; establishment of dictatorships; pork-barrel politics; Nazi regime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H54 N44 N94 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/96169/1/econwp156.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Highway to Hitler (2015)
Working Paper: Highway To Hitler (2014)
Working Paper: Highway to Hitler (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:econwp:156

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