New Deal, New Patriots: How 1930s Government Spending Boosted Patriotism During WWII

New Deal, New Patriots: How 1930s Government Spending Boosted Patriotism During WWII. Bruno Caprettini, Hans-Joachim Voth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, qjac028, June 30 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjac028

Abstract: We demonstrate an important complementarity between patriotism and public-good provision. After 1933, the New Deal led to an unprecedented expansion of the US federal government’s role. Those who benefited from social spending were markedly more patriotic during WWII: they bought more war bonds, volunteered more, and, as soldiers, won more medals. This pattern was new—WWI volunteering did not show the same geography of patriotism. We match military service records with the 1940 census to show that this pattern holds at the individual level. Using geographical variation, we exploit two instruments to suggest that the effect is causal: droughts and congressional committee representation predict more New Deal agricultural support, as well as bond buying, volunteering, and medals.

JEL D64 - Altruism; PhilanthropyD74 - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; RevolutionsD91 - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision MakingH53 - Government Expenditures and Welfare ProgramsH56 - National Security and WarI38 - Government Policy; Provision and Effects of Welfare ProgramsN31 - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913N41 - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913P16 - Political Economy

5 Conclusion

Patriotism is widespread today – in 48 out of 52 countries, according to the World Value Survey, more than 80% of citizens are "quite proud" or "very proud" of their country (Beauchamp, 2014). At the same time, an important literature views nation-states and nationalist sentiment as artificial inventions that are socially constructed based on shared myths and narratives (Anderson, 2006; Colley, 1992). In the words of Yuval Harari: "We can weave common myths such as .. the nationalist myths of modern states. Such myths give Sapiens unprecedented ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers... with countless strangers"(Harari, 2014). Instead of common narratives and myths as sources of patriotism, we focus on the contractual origins of state capacity, and in particular, intrinsic reciprocity towards the nation (Besley, 2020; Sobel, 2005). We demonstrate that where the US federal government provided help and support in times of crisis during the 1930s, patriotic deeds became much more common. Roosevelt’s New Deal ushered in an unprecedented expansion of federal spending, fundamentally changing the role of the Federal Government in American society (Schlesinger, 1957). Where the New Deal offered more support, Americans were more likely to help their country in wartime. By observing the same, costly actions – volunteering and medal awards – in both WW I and II, we can examine what factors changed attitudes. Importantly, New Deal spending was not targeted at areas that were already more patriotic during WW I; it created a new geography of patriotism. These results hold both at the county level and at the individual level, examining patterns of volunteering among the 12 million American men of military age in 1940. Our findings have implications for two literatures. First, they offer insight into the synergy between civic capital and pro-social behaviors on the one side, and state capacity on the other. An emerging literature in economics analyzes the origins of capable states and the role of armed conflict (Besley and Persson, 2009; Acemoglu, 2005; Gennaioli and Voth, 2015). It often focuses on war shocks, military spending needs, and taxes as a key dimension of state building (Levi, 1989; Scheve and Stasavage, 2010). The case of US patriotism during WW II suggests that the complementarity between government intervention and civic capital goes far beyond taxation and direct, legal obligations – with social spending and government support inducing a form of generalized, intrinsic "reciprocity" towards the country as a whole (Besley, 2020; Sobel, 2005). In this way, the New Deal helped to overcome a fundamental distrust of the federal government (Wallis, 2010). The US pattern after 1940 therefore bears out a general mechanism that led conservative politicians from Bismarck to Churchill to advocate greater social spending to enhance military prowess. Second, a large literature has demonstrated that culture — the combination of attitudes, prac23 tices, and beliefs governing everyday life — can persist over long periods (Becker et al., 2016; Guiso et al., 2016; Voigtländer and Voth, 2012; Nunn and Wantchekon, 2011). Research on the determinants of changes in attitudes is in its infancy (Giuliano and Nunn, 2021). Here, we demonstrate how government spending can fundamentally transform patriotic attitudes in a relatively short space of time, creating a new geography of patriotism.