Can Stimulating Demand Drive Costs Down? World War II as a Natural Experiment

Reproductive traits following a parent–child separation trauma during childhood: A natural experiment during World War II

American Journal of Human Biology ◽

10.1002/ajhb.20735 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 345-351 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Anu-Katriina Pesonen ◽

Katri Räikkönen ◽

Kati Heinonen ◽

Eero Kajantie ◽

Tom Forsén ◽

...

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

Reproductive Traits ◽

World War ◽

Child Separation ◽

Parent Child

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The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism

The Journal of Economic Perspectives ◽

10.1257/jep.34.2.143 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 143-171 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sascha O. Becker ◽

Lukas Mergele ◽

Ludger Woessmann

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

West Germany ◽

Extensive Literature ◽

World War ◽

East And West Germany ◽

Cautious Interpretation ◽

East And West ◽

And Gender ◽

And Control

German separation in 1949 into a communist East and a capitalist West and their reunification in 1990 are commonly described as a natural experiment to study the enduring effects of communism. We show in three steps that the populations in East and West Germany were far from being randomly selected treatment and control groups. First, the later border is already visible in many socio-economic characteristics in pre-World War II data. Second, World War II and the subsequent occupying forces affected East and West differently. Third, a selective fifth of the population fled from East to West Germany before the building of the Wall in 1961. In light of our findings, we propose a more cautious interpretation of the extensive literature on the enduring effects of communist systems on economic outcomes, political preferences, cultural traits, and gender roles.

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Political Devolution and Resistance to Foreign Rule: A Natural Experiment

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055414000240 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 108 (3) ◽

pp. 642-660 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

JEREMY FERWERDA ◽

NICHOLAS L. MILLER

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

Regression Discontinuity ◽

Regression Discontinuity Design ◽

Structural Factors ◽

Central Question ◽

World War ◽

Foreign Occupation ◽

The Relationship

Do foreign occupiers face less resistance when they increase the level of native governing authority? Although this is a central question within the literature on foreign occupation and insurgency, it is difficult to answer because the relationship between resistance and political devolution is typically endogenous. To address this issue, we identify a natural experiment based on the locally arbitrary assignment of French municipalities into German or Vichy-governed zones during World War II. Using a regression discontinuity design, we conclude that devolving governing authority significantly lowered levels of resistance. We argue that this effect is driven by a process of political cooptation: domestic groups that were granted governing authority were less likely to engage in resistance activity, while violent resistance was heightened in regions dominated by groups excluded from the governing regime. This finding stands in contrast to work that primarily emphasizes structural factors or nationalist motivations for resistance.

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Childhood separation experience predicts HPA axis hormonal responses in late adulthood: A natural experiment of World War II

Psychoneuroendocrinology ◽

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.10.017 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 35 (5) ◽

pp. 758-767 ◽

Cited By ~ 95

Author(s):

Anu-Katriina Pesonen ◽

Katri Räikkönen ◽

Kimmo Feldt ◽

Kati Heinonen ◽

Clive Osmond ◽

...

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Hpa Axis ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

World War ◽

Hormonal Responses ◽

Late Adulthood

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Severe Prenatal Shocks and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter

10.1101/2021.10.13.21264971 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriella Conti ◽

L H Lumey ◽

Stavros Poupakis ◽

Govert E Bijwaard ◽

Peter Ekamper

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

Survival Rates ◽

World War ◽

Difference In Differences ◽

Objective Health ◽

Military Recruits ◽

Research Designs ◽

Multiple Shocks ◽

Scarring Effects

This paper investigates impacts, mechanisms and selection effects of prenatal exposure to multiple shocks, by exploiting the unique natural experiment of the Dutch Hunger Winter. At the end of World War II, a famine occurred abruptly in the Western Netherlands (November 1944 - May 1945), pushing the previously and subsequently well-nourished Dutch population to the brink of starvation. We link high-quality military recruits data with objective health measurements for the cohorts born in the years surrounding WWII with newly digitised historical records on calories and nutrient composition of the war rations, daily temperature, and warfare deaths. Using difference-in-differences and triple differences research designs, we show that the cohorts exposed to the Dutch Hunger Winter since early gestation have a higher Body Mass Index and an increased probability of being overweight at age 18, and that this effect is partly accounted for by warfare exposure and a reduction in energy-adjusted protein intake. Moreover, we account for selective mortality using a copula-based approach and newly-digitised data on survival rates, and find evidence of both selection and scarring effects. These results emphasise the complexity of the mechanisms at play in studying the consequences of early conditions.

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The Role of Communities in the Transmission of Political Values: Evidence from Forced Population Transfers

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123420000447 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-21

Author(s):

Volha Charnysh ◽

Leonid Peisakhin

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Random Process ◽

Natural Experiment ◽

Empirical Test ◽

World War ◽

Value Transmission ◽

Political Values ◽

Majority Group

This article evaluates the role of community bonds in the long-term transmission of political values. At the end of World War II, Poland's borders shifted westward, and the population from the historical region of Galicia (now partly in Ukraine) was displaced to the territory that Poland acquired from Germany. In a quasi-random process, some migrants settled in their new villages as a majority group, preserving communal ties, while others ended up in the minority. The study leverages this natural experiment of history by surveying the descendants of these Galician migrants. The research design provides an important empirical test of the theorized effect of communities on long-term value transmission, which separates the influence of family and community as two competing and complementary mechanisms. The study finds that respondents in Galicia-majority settlements are now more likely to embrace values associated with Austrian imperial rule and are more similar to respondents whose families avoided displacement.

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