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Nation building: The role of central spending in education

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  • Cinnirella, Francesco
  • Schueler, Ruth

Abstract

It is generally argued that, in the context of Imperial Germany, public primary education was used to form “loyal citizens” and to build a nation. In this paper we analyze to what extent state spending on primary education affected participation at general elections and votes for pro-nationalist parties. We combine census data on the composition of school funding with federal election data at the level of 199 constituencies in five-year intervals from 1886 to 1911. Panel estimates of models with constituency and time-fixed effects show that an increase in the share of central spending is positively related to the vote share for pro-nationalist parties. Results on voter turnout are weaker and less clear cut. Estimates of models with lagged state spending by category of expenditure are consistent with the role of indoctrination of public primary education.

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  • Cinnirella, Francesco & Schueler, Ruth, 2018. "Nation building: The role of central spending in education," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 18-39.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:67:y:2018:i:c:p:18-39
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2017.08.002
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    2. Schüler, Ruth Maria, 2023. "Centralized Monitoring, Resistance, and Reform Outcomes: Evidence from School Inspections in Prussia," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277652, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Becker, Sascha O. & Mukand, Sharun & Yotzov, Ivan, 2022. "Persecution, pogroms and genocide: A conceptual framework and new evidence," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
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    6. Tomas Cvrcek & Miroslav Zajicek, 2019. "The rise of public schooling in nineteenth-century Imperial Austria: Who gained and who paid?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(3), pages 367-403, September.
    7. Belmonte, Alessandro, 2020. "State Capacity, Schooling, and Fascist Education: Evidence from the Reclamation of the Pontine Marshes," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 528, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    8. Marc Goñi, 2023. "Landed elites and education provision in England: evidence from school boards, 1871-99," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 125-171, March.
    9. Kersting, Felix & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2024. "On the origins of national identity. German nation-building after Napoleon," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 463-477.
    10. Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia & Alfonso Díez-Minguela & Alicia Gómez-Tello & Julio Martinez-Galarraga & Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat, 2021. "Structural change and the income of nations," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2021/414, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
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    13. Kukic, Leonard, 2019. "The last Yugoslavs: ethnic diversity, national identity and civil war," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102323, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Sascha O. Becker & Markus Nagler & Ludger Woessmann, 2017. "Education and religious participation: city-level evidence from Germany’s secularization period 1890–1930," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 273-311, September.
    15. Paola Azar, 2022. "Politics as a determinant of primary school provision: the case of Uruguay," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 16(2), pages 333-367, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nation building; Primary education; Indoctrination; Prussian Economic History;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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