Discussion paper
DP19383 The consequences of a trade collapse: Economics and politics in Weimar Germany
What are the political consequences of de-globalization? We address this question in the context of Weimar Germany, which experienced a 67\% decline in exports between 1928-1932. During this period, the Nazi party vote share increased from 3\% to 37\%. Using newly digitized data, we show that this surge was not driven by the direct effects of the export decline in manufacturing areas. At the same time, trade shock-induced declines in food prices spread economic hardship to rural hinterlands. We document that this indirect effect and the pro-agriculture policies put forward by the Nazis are instead key to explain their electoral success.
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