How persistent are cultural traits? This paper uses data on anti-Semitism in Germany and finds continuity at the local level over more than half a millennium. When the Black Death hit Europe in 1348-50, killing between one third and one half of the population, its cause was unknown. Many...

Can autocracies win electoral support by showcasing economic competence? We analyze a famous case – the building of the Autobahn network in Nazi Germany. Using newly collected data, we show that highway construction was effective in boosting popular support, helping to entrench the Nazi...

Social capital is often associated with desirable political and economic outcomes. This paper contributes to the literature exploring the “dark side” of social capital, examining the downfall of democracy in interwar Germany. We collect new data on the density of associations in 229 German...

1. The Organization of Terror and Murder -- 2. The Modern Theory of Bureaucracy -- 3. Bureaucratic Competition in the Third Reich -- 4. Vertical Trust Networks in the Nazi Bureaucracy -- 5. Horizontal Trust Networks in the Nazi Bureaucracy -- 6. Coercion and Vertical Trust in the Nazi...

1.Italian Economics and Fascism: an Institutional View -- 2. Economists and the Fascist Regime: A Painful Continuity? -- 3 The Persistence of Tradition: The Economists in the Law Faculties and in the Higher Institutes of Business Studies (1922 – 1943) -- 4.The Faculties of Political Sciences...

1. Economic Expertise and Political Militancy under Fascism: an Introduction -- 2. From Nationalism to Fascism: Protagonists and Journals -- 3. Planning and Discussing Corporatism and the “New International Order” -- 4. “Breaking down the Ivory Tower”: Economic Culture in Italian...