Forced Migration, Staying Minorities, and New Societies: Evidence from Postwar Czechoslovakia
Jakub Grossmann, Štěpán Jurajda, Felix Rösel
American Journal of Political Science,
No. 2,
2023
Abstract
Can staying minorities who evade ethnic cleansing affect political outcomes in resettled communities? After World War Two, three million ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, but some were allowed to stay, many of them left-leaning antifascists. We study quasi-experimental local variation in expulsion policies, a result of the surprising presence of the U.S. Army, which indirectly helped antifascist Germans stay. We find a long-lasting footprint: Communist party support, party cells, and far-left values are stronger today where antifascist Germans stayed in larger numbers. Postwar German Communist elites appear to be behind this effect along with the intergenerational transmission of values among active party members.
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Voting under Debtor Distress
Jakub Grossmann, Štěpán Jurajda
Abstract
There is growing evidence on the role of economic conditions in the recent successes of populist and extremist parties. However, little is known about the role of over-indebtedness, even though debtor distress has grown in Europe following the financial crisis. We study the unique case of the Czech Republic, where by 2017, nearly one in ten citizens had been served at least one debtor distress warrant even though the country consistently features low unemployment. Our municipality-level difference-in-differences analysis asks about the voting consequences of a rise in debtor distress following a 2001 deregulation of consumer-debt collection. We find that debtor distress has a positive effect on support for (new) extreme right and populist parties, but a negative effect on a (traditional) extreme-left party. The effects of debtor distress we uncover are robust to whether and how we control for economic hardship; the effects of debtor distress and economic hardship are of similar magnitude, but operate in opposing directions across the political spectrum.
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The Impact of Debtor Distress and Unemployment on Support for Extremist and Populist Political Parties in the Czech Republic 2001–2017
Jakub Grossmann, Štěpán Jurajda, Lucie Zapletalová
IDEA CERGE EI Studie,
No. 11,
2023
Abstract
In this study, we analyze the relationships between rising rates of distraint orders and electoral support for populist political parties and extreme left and right wing political parties at the local level. (This publication is written in czech language.)
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Research Data Centre
Research Data Centre (IWH-RDC) Direct link to our Data Offer The IWH Research Data Centre offers external researchers access to microdata and micro-aggregated data sets that…
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Work-Life Balance
Work-Life-Balance The IWH is family-friendly The Halle Institute for Economic Research constantly reviews and improves its framework for ensuring the compatibility of family and…
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Green Transition Research and Policy Advice for Structural Change in the German Economy Dossier, 18.06.2024 Green Transition The green transition is a key topic of our time. In a…
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Can Mentoring Alleviate Family Disadvantage in Adolescence? A Field Experiment to Improve Labor-Market Prospects
Sven Resnjanskij, Jens Ruhose, Simon Wiederhold, Ludger Woessmann, Katharina Wedel
Journal of Political Economy,
No. 3,
2024
Abstract
We study a mentoring program that aims to improve the labor-market prospects of school-attending adolescents from disadvantaged families by offering them a university-student mentor. Our RCT investigates program effectiveness on three outcome dimensions that are highly predictive of later labor-market success: math grades, patience/social skills, and labor-market orientation. For low-SES adolescents, the mentoring increases a combined index of the outcomes by over half a standard deviation after one year, with significant increases in each dimension. Part of the treatment effect is mediated by establishing mentors as attachment figures who provide guidance for the future. Effects on grades and labor-market orientation, but not on patience/social skills, persist three years after program start. By that time, the mentoring also improves early realizations of school-to-work transitions for low-SES adolescents. The mentoring is not effective for higher-SES adolescents. The results show that substituting lacking family support by other adults can help disadvantaged children at adolescent age.
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Transformation tables for administrative borders in Germany
Transformation tables for administrative borders in Germany The state has the ability to change the original spatial structure of its administrative regions. The stated goal of…
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IWH Subsidy Databse The microdatabase currently comprises nine data sets on direct business subsidy programmes in Germany. The programme statistics kept by the project sponsors…
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Data
Transformation tables for administrative borders in Germany – data In order to demonstrate what kind of information the available tables contain and how they are structured, the…
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