Cronyism in Ideological Crusades

In this paper we seek a better understanding of a particular variety of conflict – the ideological crusade (defined as the efforts of the proponents of one ideology to wipe out the proponents of an alternative ideology). Our focus is on the exceptionally bloody ideological crusade conducted by the Argentine military in the late 1970s/early 1980s. We find that political connections significantly drove the selection of firms whose union leaders were “disappeared” by the military. We also find that politically connected firms enjoyed exceptional financial gains as a consequence of the repression.