PII investigates the argument that the underlying driver of populism is lifetime shifts in economic inequality, caused by on-going economic transformation through technological change and import competition. The underlying dynamics are hypothesised to display similar patterns of change across countries.
However, the pattern of populist attitudes may differ, depending on how such long-term change can be mediated through institutions, education, retraining and upgrading; and how the effect of populist attitudes is magnified via electoral and party institutions.