American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Leadership in Social Movements: Evidence from the "Forty-Eighters" in the Civil War
American Economic Review
vol. 111,
no. 2, February 2021
(pp. 472–505)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
This paper studies the role of leaders in the social movement against slavery that culminated in the US Civil War. Our analysis is organized around a natural experiment: leaders of the failed German revolution of 1848–1849 were expelled to the United States and became antislavery campaigners who helped mobilize Union Army volunteers. Towns where Forty-Eighters settled show two-thirds higher Union Army enlistments. Their influence worked through local newspapers and social clubs. Going beyond enlistment decisions, Forty-Eighters reduced their companies' desertion rate during the war. In the long run, Forty-Eighter towns were more likely to form a local chapter of the NAACP.Citation
Dippel, Christian, and Stephan Heblich. 2021. "Leadership in Social Movements: Evidence from the "Forty-Eighters" in the Civil War." American Economic Review, 111 (2): 472–505. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191137Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N41 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913