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Christian Ochsner in the American Economic Association Research Highlights

6 August, 2024

CERGE-EI Assistant Professor Christian Ochsner discussed Austria's political landscape, historical parallels, and the impact on Muslim minorities in the latest American Economic Association Research Highlights Podcast.

Christian's co-authored paper "Activated History: The Case of the Turkish Sieges of Vienna" was recently published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that historical events stored in collective memories can be activated by political campaigns to foster xenophobia and radicalization. Though Turkish troops attacked Vienna in 1529 and 1683, the affected areas only began expressing aversion to Muslims after far-right populist campaigns in the mid-2000s. The authors’ findings show that anti-Muslim sentiment and far-right voting surged in these areas following the campaigns, leading to a decline in Turkish communities.

You can listen to the conversation with Christian in the American Economic Association Research Highlights Podcast.

Christian Ochsner is an Assistant Professor at CERGE-EI and Research Associate at SIAW - University of St. Gallen. He holds a doctoral degree from Dresden University of Technology. In his research, he looks at critical junctures in history and how they matter today. He was also a guest on our Talking Economics podcast session dedicated to regional economics.