Intergroup contact and nation building: evidence from military service in Spain

We study the long-term effects of intergroup contact on nation building by exploiting a national lottery that randomly allocated conscripts to different military areas across Spain. For men born in regions featuring a strong regional identity, we find that being assigned to military service in a region different from one's region of birth substantially increases self-identification as Spanish and reduces the likelihood of voting for a regionalist party. Moreover, in support of intergroup contact as the main mechanism behind these results, we find that movers are more likely to have friends from another region than nonmoversCáceres-Delpiano gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant ECO2009-11165 and ECO2019-00419-001), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MDM 2014-0431), and the Comunidad de Madrid MadEco-CM (S2015/HUM-3444). De Moragas acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant PGC2018-099415-B-100 MICINN/FEDER/UE) and Fundación Ramón Areces. Facchini gratefully acknowledges financial support from the General Secretariat for Research-Government of Catalonia (SGR2017-1301) and the Spanish Ministry of Education (PID2019-104619RB-C43)