Growth and Extremism

Markus Brueckner and Hans Peter Gruener
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Markus Brueckner

ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics from Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics

Abstract: We argue that the growth rate, but not the level of aggregate income, affects the support for political extremism. In our model extreme parties offer benefits to a subset of the population; and there exists uncertainty over whether the same subset of individuals will receive these benefits in the future. Based on a panel of 16 European countries, our empirical analysis shows that lower growth rates are associated with a significant increase in right-wing extremism. We do not find a systematic effect on left-wing extremism. Uncertainty over what group will have incomes expropriated in the future may explain these results.

Keywords: Economic Growth; Political Extremism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O40 O52 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-net and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2016-639

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