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Nation Building: The Role of Central Spending in Education

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  • Cinnirella, Francesco
  • Schueler, Ruth M.

Abstract

It is generally argued that, in the context of Imperial Germany, public primary education was used to form "loyal citizen" and to build a nation. In this paper we analyze to what extent central spending on primary education affected participation at general elections and votes for pro-nationalist parties. We combine census data on the sources 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 of pro-nationalist parties and voter turnout. Results from models with lagged central spending by category of expenditure are consistent with the role of indoctrination of public primary education.

Suggested Citation

  • Cinnirella, Francesco & Schueler, Ruth M., 2016. "Nation Building: The Role of Central Spending in Education," CEPR Discussion Papers 11621, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11621
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    Cited by:

    1. Ruth Maria Schüler, 2016. "Educational inputs and economic development in end-of-nineteenth-century Prussia," ifo Working Paper Series 227, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    indoctrination; Nation building; primary education; Prussian Economic History;

    JEL classification:

    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • 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

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