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Contribution Details

Type Working Paper
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Going viral: propaganda, persuasion and polarization in 1932 Hamburg
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Marcel Jochen Caesmann
  • Bruno Caprettini
  • Hans-Joachim Voth
  • David Yanagizawa-Drott
Language
  • English
Institution Centre for Economic Policy Research
Series Name Discussion Paper Series
Number 16356
ISSN 0265-8003
Number of Pages 71
Date 2021
Abstract Text Propaganda can convince or repel. Social interactions can magnify these effects. We estimate the impact of Nazi marches in 1932 Hamburg, using granular data on all households. Direct exposure immediately affected voting -- propaganda was persuasive. To study diffusion, we measure social connections using contagion patterns from the 1918 Spanish flu, combined with social similarity. Nazi support spread to other parts of the city along the predicted contagion paths. Social spillovers are of similar importance as direct exposure. The marches were also polarizing the electorate â?? in opposition strongholds, they backfired, and gains were concentrated in areas with high Nazi support.
Official URL https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=16356
Other Identification Number merlin-id:21471
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