This paper studies to what extent changes in economic incentives, and in particular a drop in soldiers’ accountability, affect violence against civilians. It uses evidence from the Italian Campaign during World War II (1943-1945). Exploiting movements of the front lines as plausibly exogenous shocks to soldiers’ accountability in a staggered difference-in-differences strategy, we find that: i) at front line activation, the probability of indiscriminate violence against civilians jumped 13 folds;

Tag-uri: Italia