Populism and Impatience

Thomas Aronsson (), Clemens Hetschko () and Ronnie Schöb ()
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Thomas Aronsson: Department of Economics, Umeå University, Postal: Department of Economics, Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden, https://www.umu.se/handelshogskolan
Clemens Hetschko: University of Leeds and CESifo, Postal: University of Leeds, Economics Division, Maurice Keyworth Building, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Ronnie Schöb: Freie Universität Berlin and CESifo, Postal: School of Business & Economics, Freie Universität Berlin, Boltzmannstraße 20, D–14195 Berlin, Germany
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ronnie Schoeb

No 1019, Umeå Economic Studies from Umeå University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study shows that supporters of right-wing populist parties in Germany and the United Kingdom tend to be less patient than supporters of other parties and thus more prone to favor immediate gratification over long-term outcomes. Our empirical analysis highlights that a direct effect of impatience on the support for right-wing populism remains even after controlling for life outcomes, such as income and education. We present a theoretical model to rationalize this finding, where highly impatient individuals are subject to binding borrowing constraints and therefore unable to reallocate the benefits of forward-looking policies to the present. For this reason, they tend to support myopic policies promoted by populist parties that focus on immediate outcomes. Extending our empirical analysis shows that the direct effect of impatience on the likelihood of preferring a right-wing populist party may indeed be driven by voters who are borrowing-constrained.

Keywords: Time-preference; impatience; right-wing populism; borrowing constraint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D15 D72 D91 F15 F68 H53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 65 pages
Date: 2023-12-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
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