Fed paper says 1918 pandemic led to German austerity and extremism [pdf]

Actual title: Pandemics Change Cities: Municipal Spending and Voter Extremism in Germany, 1918-1933<p>Specifically, the paper states:<p>&gt; In this section, we show that the 1932 and 1933 vote share won by extremists was related to influenza mortality of a decade earlier. This mortality was positively associated with right-wing extremist vote shares, such as the national socialists, and negatively (though insignificantly) with the share won by left-leaning extremists.<p>So, the 1918 pandemic did not lead to just <i>extremism</i>; it led to <i>right wing</i> extremism. (I&#x27;d suggest changing the title to reflect this, if possible.) This is a danger that we are facing right now in the US.

how does this possibly have any accuracy, it doesn&#x27;t even mention the treaty of versailles.<p>This is despite the the treaty of versailles having large and well understood economic impact and crushing costs of that treaty. Those costs and consequences are largely understood to have driven the economy into the ground.

Wasn&#x27;t the spending dip because of war reparations? That the austerity caused right wing extremism is not in doubt. But this paper seems to ignore what caused the austerity.<p>Edit: after reviewing some charts, I don&#x27;t think causality has been established. The high influenza mortality was probably a result of pre-existing economic and political inequalities.

&quot;Led To&quot; is a bit of a stretch