Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP18543
Authors: Sascha O. Becker; Hansjoachim Voth
Abstract: Can weakened religiosity lead to the rise of totalitarianism? The Nazi Party set itself up as a political religion, emphasizing redemption, sacrifice, rituals, and communal spirit. This had a major impact on its success: Where the Christian Church only had shallow roots, the Nazis received higher electoral support and saw more party entry. "Shallow Christianity" reflects the geography of medieval Christianization and the strength of pagan practices, which we use as sources of exogenous variation. We also find predictive power at the individual level: Within each municipality, the likelihood of joining the Nazi Party was higher for those with less Christian first names.
Keywords: political religion; behavioral political economy; voting; Nazi party; Protestantism; shallow Christianity; paganism
JEL Codes: N13; N14; N44; P16; Z12; Z18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| shallow Christianity (Z12) | Nazi party support (B14) |
| lack of deep-rooted Christianity (Z12) | Nazi party support (B14) |
| shallow Christianity (Z12) | higher levels of support for the Nazi party (F52) |
| distance to pre-1500 monasteries (N93) | shallow Christianity (Z12) |
| distance to sites of pagan worship (Z12) | shallow Christianity (Z12) |