SMU SOE Seminar Series (March 6, 2024, 4pm-5.30pm): The Value of Learning History

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ABSTRACT How can democratic societies foster support for democratic institutions and inoculate citizens against authoritarian ideologies from the extremes of the political spectrum? We study whether history education about past authoritarian regimes serves this purpose successfully. To do so, we exploit a recent natural experiment in a large German state that induced cross-cohort rotation of topics included in high school seniors' history curricula, such that a cohort covered either the far-left socialist regime of East Germany, or the far-right fascist regime of Nazi Germany. Surveying 1,500 former students a decade after graduation, we find that history curricula matter much beyond the school years: besides each curriculum persistently raising knowledge about the covered regime---with larger effects on knowledge about East Germany---we find that learning about East Germany relative to Nazi Germany decreases support for far-left ideology and the far-left party. Attitudes towards far-right ideas and parties are unaffected, consistent with high baseline levels of awareness about the pitfalls of far-right ideology in Germany. Click here to view the CV.
		PRESENTER Sarah Eichmeyer Bocconi University
		RESEARCH FIELDS Public/Health Economics Political Economy
		DATE: 6 March 2024 (Wednesday)
		TIME: 4pm - 5.30pm
		VENUE: Meeting Room 5.1, Level 5 School of Economics Singapore Management University 90 Stamford Road Singapore 178903