Early-Life Origins of Wartime Behaviour: The Irish Potato Famine and Desertion in the American Civil War

Abstract

How does pre-war trauma impact battlefield behaviour? I study Irish troops in the American Civil War who experienced the Potato Famine over a decade prior. I use birth cohorts, sibling birth order, adult height, and the geography of last names in Ireland to measure famine exposure within the Irish group at the level of individual soldiers. Each strategy indicates that famine exposure increases desertion. Developing and testing observable implications from theory, I show that heightened risk aversion is the most plausible mechanism. Once soldiers are socialized into active combat through collective risk-sharing the famine effect dissipates. This research contributes to our understanding of the causes of contentious behaviour, how the behavioural legacies of atrocities play-out sans partisanship, and the importance of pre-migration experiences.