Leadership in Social Movements: Evidence from the "Forty-Eighters" in the Civil War
American Economic Review
vol. 111,
no. 2, February 2021
(pp. 472-505)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This paper studies the role of leaders in the social movement against slavery that culminated in the US Civil War. Our analysis is organized around a natural experiment: leaders of the failed German revolution of 1848–1849 were expelled to the United States and became antislavery campaigners who helped mobilize Union Army volunteers. Towns where Forty-Eighters settled show two-thirds higher Union Army enlistments. Their influence worked through local newspapers and social clubs. Going beyond enlistment decisions, Forty-Eighters reduced their companies' desertion rate during the war. In the long run, Forty-Eighter towns were more likely to form a local chapter of the NAACP.Citation
Dippel, Christian, and Stephan Heblich. 2021. "Leadership in Social Movements: Evidence from the "Forty-Eighters" in the Civil War." American Economic Review, 111 (2): 472-505. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191137Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N41 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913