On the determinants of political polarization

Grechyna, Daryna

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2016.04.018

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…First, the indices of absolute redistribution, market income inequality, government size and government consumption are included, because they can change the impact of globalisation on polarisation due to the channels of economic conditions and the political sphere. Income inequality is the main driver of polarisation (Esteban & Ray, 2011;Grechyna, 2016;Sturm & De Haan, 2015). According to Rodrik (2018), governments increase their expenditures as long as the level of globalisation increases; they can thus affect polarisation.…”

Section: Additional Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does globalisation alleviate polarisation?

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we investigate the effects of globalisation on polarisation in a panel data set of 149 countries between 2000 and 2017. We consider the Revisited KOF Globalisation indices and two measures of polarisation: polarisation of society and political polarisation. The findings show that globalisation decreases polarisation. We also separate de jure and de facto measures of globalisation and observe significant suppressing effects of the de facto and de jure indices of globalisation on both indicators of polarisation. In addition, we find that economic and political globalisation measures are negatively related to polarisation indicators. The baseline findings are robust to estimate different models and to use different econometric procedures. Finally, we address potential issues with endogeneity, omitted variable bias, outliers and reverse causality.

show abstract

Section: Additional Controlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does globalisation alleviate polarisation?

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Here, Freitag & Ackermann (2016) and Grechyna (2016) argue that polarization is reduced through intense social interaction, where associational life that fosters communication and opinion exchange possibly restrains radical views. However, people who are trusting are also more likely to engage with different people (Uslaner 2010), and causality can easily go the other way due to selection.…”

Section: Related Literature and Basic Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Radical Distrust: Are Economic Policy Attitudes Tempered by Social Trust?

Pitlik

Rode

2020

Soc Indic Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Debates about the appropriate role of markets and governments are often shaped by sharply contrasting opinions. Based on individual data from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study for up to 190,000 respondents in a sample of 68 democratic countries, we find that social trust is associated with tempered attitudes regarding government intervention and redistribution. Results corroborate ideas from socio-psychological research that trusting people have personality attributes which work towards a moderation on politically divisive topics. Complementary to the existing literature on political polarisation, this opens the possibility that trusting societies may be superior at implementing controversial policy reforms because social trust reduces the probability of extreme attitude formation.

show abstract

“…Grechyna () uses data from 66 countries to examine the economic, socio‐historic and geographic contributions to political polarisation. She finds that the level of trust and degree of income inequality are the most important determinants of political polarisation.…”

Section: Causes Of Populist Sentiment: Theory and Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Australia Demonstrates the Rise of Populism is About More than Economics

Wood¹,

Daley²,

Chivers³

2018

Australian Economic Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Votes for established centre-right and centreleft political parties are falling across the developed world. Australia is not immune from this trend: in the 2016 federal election, more people voted for minor parties than at any point since the Second World War. Australia is an interesting case study for the rest of the world on the origins of populist support. Political scientists have struggled to separate the effects of cultural shifts and poor economic outcomes (low wages and rising inequality) in many countries because these shifts have occurred simultaneously. However, in Australia the economy was relatively healthy during the period of rising minor party support. Our analysis suggests that falling trust in government and a backlash against the pace of social change explain much of the collapse in support for the political mainstream.

show abstract

On the determinants of political polarization

Cited by 42 publications

References 22 publications

Does globalisation alleviate polarisation?

Does globalisation alleviate polarisation?

Radical Distrust: Are Economic Policy Attitudes Tempered by Social Trust?

Australia Demonstrates the Rise of Populism is About More than Economics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About