Do Incompetent Politicians Breed Populist Voters? Evidence from Italian Municipalities

Federico Boffa, Vincenzo Mollisi () and A. M. Giacomo Ponzetto ()
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Vincenzo Mollisi: Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, University of Torino, Torino, Italy;
A. M. Giacomo Ponzetto: CREI, UPF, IPEG and BSE, Spain;

No 87, Working papers from Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino

Abstract: Poor performance by the established political class can drive voters towards anti- establishment outsiders. Is the ineffectiveness of incumbent politicians an important driver of the recent rise of populist parties? We provide an empirical test exploiting a sharp discontinuity in the wage of local politicians as a function of population in Italian municipalities. We find that the more skilled local politicians and more effective local government in municipalities above the threshold cause a significant drop in voter support for the populist Five-Star Movement in regional and national elections. Support for incumbent governing parties increases instead.

Keywords: Populism; Government efficiency; Politician quality; Political agency. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D73 H70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 57 pages
Date: 2024-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pol and nep-ure
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https://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/tur/wpapnw/m87.pdf First version, 2024 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Do Incompetent Politicians Breed Populist Voters? Evidence from Italian Municipalities (2023)
Working Paper: Do Incompetent Politicians Breed Populist Voters? Evidence from Italian Municipalities (2023)
Working Paper: Do incompetent politicians breed populist voters? Evidence from Italian municipalities (2023)
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