Higher Seminar in Statecraft and Strategic Communication | Jaakko Meriläinen
Abstract: This paper documents the long-term economic effects of a psychological experiment in Marxist-Leninist classroom indoctrination conducted in a Finnish municipality between 1973 and1975. As part of the experiment, two cohorts of fifth-grade students were exposed to a Soviet-influenced history and social studies curriculum aimed at shaping a "functioning [socialist] worldview,” while others followed the national standard curriculum. Using administrative data and a difference-in-differences design, we find that exposed cohorts, as adults, had significantly lower incomes, reduced labor supply, and were more likely to enter more left-leaning and civic-minded occupations. Educational attainment and cognitive or non-cognitive skills were less clearly affected.
Bio: Jaakko Meriläinen is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Docent in Economics at the University of Helsinki. His research lies in empirical political economics, with a focus on democratic governance, political representation, electoral politics, and historical political economy. His work combines micro-econometric methods with contemporary and historical data to study the functioning and development of political and economic institutions in both developed and developing contexts.