Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in France
American Economic Review
vol. 113,
no. 7, July 2023
(pp. 1888-1932)
Abstract
We measure how a network of heroes can legitimize and diffuse extreme political behaviors. We exploit newly declassified intelligence files, novel voting data, and regimental histories to show that home municipalities of French line regiments arbitrarily rotated under Philippe Petain's generalship through the heroic World War I battlefield of Verdun diverge politically thereafter, particularly following Petain's own overt espousal of authoritarian views. Further, under Petain's collaborationist Vichy regime (1940–1944), they raise 7 percent more active Nazi collaborators per capita. These effects extend across all forms of Nazi collaboration and diffuse beyond the veterans themselves.Citation
Cagé, Julia, Anna Dagorret, Pauline Grosjean, and Saumitra Jha. 2023. "Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in France." American Economic Review, 113 (7): 1888-1932. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211509Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
- N34 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913-
- N44 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Europe: 1913-
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification