My 4-year-old son Mateo clearly understands how academia works. Upon learning from my wife that I had a paper rejected, he came to me and asked, with the saddest face: "Papi, did your work break?" I guess… in a way, yes.
Jaakko Meriläinen
@jmerilainen.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2.5K following 107 posts
Associate Professor of Economics @ SSE | Mediocre political economist, aspiring trumpetist, winner of the 2011 International Kantele Competition, amateur oil painter, and Mateo and Mila's dad | Read more: sites.google.com/view/jaakkomerilai…
![This paper investigates the individual-level economic impacts of Marxist-Leninist indoctrination. We examine the long-run effects of a rogue educational experiment that, between 1973 and 1975, exposed two cohorts of fifth graders in one Finnish municipality to a history and social studies curriculum influenced by Soviet ideas. The experiment aimed to study the formation of a ``functioning [socialist] worldview.'' Students in other cohorts and municipalities followed the standard curriculum. Using comprehensive register data and a difference-in-differences approach, we show that exposed students earned significantly less in adulthood than their non-exposed peers. This gap is partly explained by reduced labor supply and a shift toward more left-leaning, lower-paying occupations. We find no substantial effects on educational attainment, cognitive ability, or personality traits related to achievement striving. These findings highlight the long-lasting economic consequences of early exposure to ideological content in the classroom.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iw4zik7u5zligtxo5zkry7ie/bafkreia3fludtx33qqjgyvqy4o72637jqj5xuqlpuds23fr2irlggcxrvi)
