Abstract This essay summarises my PhD thesis composed of four chapters, which deal with various aspects of social identity in 19th century Germany. The first chapter analyzes the effect of nation-building in cities that became part of Prussia in 1815. The second chapter investigates the effect of Bismarck's carrot and stick policies on the electoral success of the socialist party. The third chapter studies the "China shock" of the first globalisation (1880–1913)—the "grain invasion"—coming from the Americas into Europe. The fourth chapter revisits Max Weber's hypothesis on the role of Protestantism in economic development in its contemporary context.
Diese Dissertation besteht aus vier Kapiteln, die sich mit verschiedenen Aspekten sozialer Identität im Deutschland des 19. Jahrhunderts befassen. Das erste Kapitel analysiert den Effekt früher Nationsbildung. Daten über die Vornamenswahl der Eltern in acht deutschen Städten und die Klassifizierung der Vornamen erlauben es, Veränderungen der nationalen Identität zu fassen. Anhand der Variation in Familien über die Zeit und des Vergleichs von Städten, die 1815 Teil Preußens werden, mit anderen Städten, die außerhalb Preußens blieben, wird der insgesamt positive Effekt ermittelt. Das zweite Kapitel untersucht die Wirkung von Bismarcks Zuckerbrot-und-Peitsche-Politik auf den Wahlerfolg der Sozialdemokratie. Für die empirische Analyse nutze ich Varianz in bereits bestehenden Krankenversicherungen sowie Informationen zu verbotenen Vereinen in einem Differenz-in-Differenzen Ansatz. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es Bismarck's Politiken zu steigendem Erfolg für die Sozialdemokratie geführt haben. Das dritte Kapitel untersucht die "Getreideinvasion" der ersten Globalisierung. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Handelsschocks in der Landwirtschaft die Wirtschaft der ländlichen Kreise in Preußen belasten. Entscheidend ist indes, dass dieser Handelsschock aufgrund starker Arbeitsmigration nicht zu einem entsprechenden Rückgang des Pro-Kopf-Einkommens oder einer Zunahme der politischen Polarisierung führte. Im vierten Kapitel wird Max Webers Hypothese einer protestantischen Ethik überprüft. Die empirische Analyse zeigt, dass Protestantismus nach 1870 weder für das Einkommensniveau noch für die Ersparnisse oder die Alphabetisierungsraten in den preußischen Kreisen eine Rolle spielte. Stattdessen ist, so das Argument, Nationalismus sowohl für die Interpretation von Webers protestantischer Ethik als auch für deren empirische Überprüfung von entscheidender Bedeutung. ; This dissertation is composed of four chapters which deal with various aspects of social identity in 19th century Germany. The first chapter analyzes the effect of nation-building in cities that became part of Prussia in 1815. Data on first name choices by parents in eight German cities allow to elicit changes in national identity. Using within-family variation and comparing cities that become part of Prussia with other cities that stayed outside Prussia identifies the overall positive treatment effect. The second chapter investigates the effect of Bismarck's carrot and stick policies on the electoral success of the socialist party. For identification, I exploit spatial and industry specific variation in treatment intensity due to ex-ante existing local health insurance. The results show that Bismarck failed in reducing the support for the socialist party. The third chapter studies the "grain invasion" – the "China shock" of the first globalization. The empirical results show that trade shocks in agriculture depress the economy of rural counties in Prussia. Crucially, there is no indication of a corresponding decline in income per capita or a rise in political polarization which is attributed to high levels of labor migration. The fourth chapter revisits Max Weber's hypothesis on the role of Protestantism for economic development in its contemporary context. The empirical analysis provides evidence that Protestantism neither mattered for income levels, nor savings, nor literacy rates across Prussian counties after 1870. Instead, the chapter argues that nationalism is crucial for both the interpretation of Weber's Protestant Ethic and empirical tests thereof. While covering different contexts in 19th century Germany, these chapters are united in dealing with various aspects of social identity – either exploring potential political and economic causes of changes in social identities (chapter 1, 2, and 3) or possible consequences of social identity (chapter 4).
Abstract This paper studies the economic and political effects of a large trade shock in agriculture—the grain invasion from the Americas—in Prussia during the first globalisation (1870–913). We show that this shock led to a decline in the employment rate and overall income. However, we do not observe declining per capita income and political polarisation, which we explain by a strong migration response. Our results suggest that the negative and persistent effects of trade shocks we see today are not a universal feature of globalisation, but depend on labour mobility. For our analysis, we digitise data from Prussian industrial and agricultural censuses on the county level and combine them with national trade data at the product level. We exploit the cross-regional variation in cultivated crops within Prussia and instrument with Italian and United States trade data to isolate exogenous variation.
We revisit Max Weber's hypothesis on the role of Protestantism for economic development. We show that nationalism is crucial to both, the interpretation of Weber's Protestant Ethic and empirical tests thereof. For late nineteenth-century century Prussia we reject Weber's suggestion that Protestantism mattered due to an "ascetic compulsion to save." Moreover, we find that income levels, savings, and literacy rates differed between Germans and Poles, not between Protestants and Catholics, using pooled OLS and IV regressions. We suggest that this result is due to anti-Polish discrimination.
This paper studies the economic and political effects of a large trade shock in agriculture – the grain invasion from the Americas – in Prussia during the first globalisation (1871-1913). We show that this shock accelerated the structural change in the Prussian economy through migration of workers to booming cities. In contrast to studies using today's data, we do not observe declining per capita income and political polarisation in counties affected by foreign competition. Our results suggest that the negative and persistent effects of trade shocks we see today are not a universal feature of globalisation, but depend on labour mobility. For our analysis, we digitise data from Prussian industrial and agricultural censuses on the county level and combine it with national trade data at the product level. We exploit the cross-regional variation in cultivated crops within Prussia and instrument with Italian trade data to isolate exogenous variation.
Dieser Beitrag untersucht Deutschland in der ersten Globalisierung in den Jahrzehnten vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg. Damals erlebte das Deutsche Reich eine massive Zunahme von Getreideimporten aus Amerika. Wir vergleichen Landkreise, die auf die importierten Getreidesorten spezialisiert waren, mit Kreisen, die andere landwirtschaftliche Güter hergestellt haben. Unsere Resultate zeigen, dass viele Arbeitskräfte die Kreise verlassen, in denen vom Handelsschock betroffene Produkte hergestellt wurden. Allerdings bleiben die in modernen Volkswirtschaften beobachteten negativen Effekte auf Einkommen pro Kopf und Sterblichkeit aus, auch eine politische Radikalisierung findet nicht statt. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass die Migrationsbewegungen negative wirtschaftliche und in der Folge auch politische Auswirkungen abfedern. Damals verließen etwa viermal so viele Einwohner ihren Landkreis nach einem Handelsschock wie in vergleichbaren Situationen in den heutigen USA.
This paper studies the economic and political effects of a large trade shock in agriculture - the grain invasion from the Americas - in Prussia during the first globalization (1871-1913). We show that this shock accelerated the structural change in the Prussian economy through migration of workers to booming cities. In contrast to studies using today's data, we do not observe declining per capita income, health outcomes or political polarization in counties aected by foreign competition. Our results suggest that the negative and persistent eects of trade shocks we see today are not a universal feature of globalization, but depend on labor mobility. For our analysis, we digitize data from Prussian industrial and agricultural censuses on the county level and combine it with national trade data at the product level. We exploit the cross-regional variation in cultivated crops within Prussia and instrument with Italian trade data to isolate exogenous variation.
This paper studies the economic and political effects of a large trade shock in agriculture - the grain invasion from the Americas - in Prussia during the first globalisation (1871-1913). We show that this shock accelerated the structural change in the Prussian economy through migration of workers to booming cities. In contrast to studies using today's data, we do not observe declining per capita income and political polarisation in counties affected by foreign competition. Our results suggest that the negative and persistent effects of trade shocks we see today are not a universal feature of globalisation, but depend on labour mobility. For our analysis, we digitise data from Prussian industrial and agricultural censuses on the county level and combine it with national trade data at the product level. We exploit the cross-regional variation in cultivated crops within Prussia and instrument with Italian trade data to isolate exogenous variation.
