Working Papers
Working Papers
Job Market Paper, Single Author, Thesis Chapter
Abstract: This paper examines the influence of socialist institutions on the long-term development of civil society. Using the uneven collectivisation of agriculture in socialist Poland as a natural experiment, I combine newly compiled municipal data with two identification strategies based on land reform and post-war deportations. My findings reveal that areas that were historically collectivised today exhibit stronger formal civil society. Conversely, there has been no change in informal social capital. Collectivised regions also demonstrate greater institutional trust and stronger support for left-leaning political parties. These results imply that collective institutions fostered enduring organisational capacities and state-oriented civic norms, demonstrating the ongoing influence of socialist legacies on post-transition societies. Results are robust to alternative specifications and national replication.
Single Author, Thesis Chapter
[Current abstract] [Paper draft available upon request]
Abstract: This paper studies whether authoritarian repression leaves a lasting imprint on political behavior. I construct a new and unique dataset on the presence of the socialist secret police in Poland, based on over 90,000 personnel records. I use this dataset and classify municipalities by exposure to local secret police presence and estimate the political consequences after 1990. I find that repression reduced electoral participation in the post-communist era, leaving a modest but persistent demobilizing legacy. In contrast, repression alone does not explain variation in support for the socialist successor party. Employing a difference-in-difference strategy, I find that an information shock, the 2005 publication of the 'Wildstein list' of (alleged) collaborators and employees, reactivated repression legacies and reduced the successor party’s vote share in previously repressed municipalities. Additionally, I present evidence that collective memory can be activated more strongly when it is tied to local, potentially recognizable individuals. The results highlight how historical repression can depress participation, but only under certain conditions becomes electorally salient. This contributes to research on the persistence of political behavior, the role of narratives, and the political economy of memory.
with Theocharis Grigoariadis, Thesis Chapter
Dividing Empires, Divergent Norms: The Impact of Polish Partitions on Gender Norms and Outcomes
With Piotr Paweł Larysz, Denise Barth, Iga Magda, and Natalia Danzer