Technological Progress and Political Disengagement

Daryna Grechyna ()

No 20/04, ThE Papers from Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada.

Abstract: This paper postulates the existence of a negative relationship between technological progress and citizens’ political engagement in developed economies. Theoretically, technological progress decreases the citizen relative utility from political participation. Empirically, the data covering a large sample of individuals in European regions and a sample of individuals from British regions suggests that regional technological progress reduces the probability that an individual supports any political party, controlling for a wide range of individual and regional characteristics. These findings are consistent with decreasing voter turnout and a rise in political populism observed in many institutionalized democracies.

Keywords: technological progress; political interests; political disenfranchisement; voter turnout; survey data. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 O33 H40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2020-04-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gra:wpaper:20/04

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