This paper discusses what might be behind many of the contemporary problems facing British and American societies and suggests that the ICT revolution of the 80s and 90s may have been a key driver. The researcher argues this revolution and the Neo-liberalist agenda of the time spawned a range of social malfunctions that were in … Read more
The ICT revolution and neo-liberalism: Its major pathologies and a Polanyian second movement
The Technological Revolution, Segregation and Populism – A Long-term Strategic Response
This paper aims to generate a debate about the need In England for a radical long-term plan to undermine populism and populist policies. It raises a series of questions about the way in which a Neo-liberal framework has shaped UK policy and fed ‘populist urges’. Set in the context of rising populism and the Covid-19 … Read more
Reallocation effects of the minimum wage
We investigate the wage, employment, and reallocation effects of the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage in Germany that affected 15% of all employees. Based on identification designs that exploit variation in exposure across individuals and local areas, we find that the minimum wage raised wages but did not lower employment. It also led to … Read more
Between communism and capitalism: long-term inequality in Poland, 1892–2015
This paper looks at the evolution of inequality in Poland from the late 19th Century to the early 21st Century, by constructing the long-term distribution of income in Poland from combining tax, household survey and national accounts data. It documents a U-shaped evolution of inequalities from the end of the 19th century until today: (i) … Read more
Faith no more? The divergence of political trust between urban and rural Europe
This paper looks the divergence in political trust levels between rural and urban areas since 2008. It concludes that this increasing rural-urban divide has important implications for European democracies. The research uses data gathered between 2008 and 2018 bythe European Social Survey, accounting for a total population of 433 million and allowing a final sample of just over 125,000 people aged over 16 years … Read more
Refugee migration and electoral outcomes
To estimate the causal effect of refugee migration on voting outcomes in parliamentary and municipal elections in Denmark, our study is the first that addresses the key problem of immigrant sorting by exploiting a policy that assigned refugee immigrants to municipalities on a quasi-random basis. We find that in all but the most urban municipalities, … Read more
Golfing with Trump. Social capital, decline, inequality, and the rise of populism in the US
This paper analyses the extent to which the 2016 election of Donald Trump—and his failed re-election bid in 2020 – are, as often claimed, linked to lower levels of community engagement in the United States and rising inequality. It suggests an alternative view might be more accurate and that the rise in votes for Trump … Read more
Workplace Contact and Support for Anti-Immigration Parties
This paper asks whether support for anti-immigration political parties increases or decreases when native-born voters work alongside migrants. It finds that working together significantly reduces opposition to immigration and this leads to lower support for those parties. The researchers used detailed data from three million people in almost 6,000 electoral precincts across Sweden. All of … Read more
Economic Distress and Support for Radical Right Parties—Evidence From Sweden
This paper investigates whether there are any links between being made unemployed and increasing support for radical right-wing political parties. The research uses Swedish election data to show that for every layoff notice among low-skilled native-born workers, support for the country’s radical right party the Sweden Democrats increases by, on average, 0.17 to 0.45 votes. … Read more
Facts and Myths in the Popular Debate about Inequality in Sweden
This paper presents a critical assessment of the public debate on income and wealth inequality in Sweden. The authors scrutinize ten often-heard claims in the debate by contrasting them against facts in available databases and results in the research literature. The paper also addresses specific measurement problems in the Swedish income statistics and suggests possible … Read more