What has populism ever done for you? Are populist governments successful in producing economic and social change?

Abstract

The rhetoric of populism stresses benefiting "the people" who have been ignored by a corrupt elite, whether that elite is political or economic. If the reality is to match the rhetoric, then populist governments should provide social and economic benefits for the public, including healthcare, education, and income redistribution. This paper examines the effects of populist governments in the American South during the time of the Great Depression on a number of indicators of social and economic well-being. The general finding is that the populist governments were successful in the short term in producing changes, but that these changes were not sustained over time.

The promises and perils of populism for democratic policymaking: the case of Mexico

“…Also in line with many other populist experiences (Dornbusch & Edwards, 1990 , 2007; Funke et al, 2020 ; Peters, 2022 ), the Mexican experience shows that populism brings with it considerable policy, institutional, and social damage. Behind its rhetorical appeal, populist policy decisions and policymaking patterns cause heavy damage both to policy institutions (e.g., programs, bureaucracies, tools) and to the very ‘people’ they are supposed to help.…”

“…Similarly, Funke and his colleagues ( 2020 ) have found populist governments produce lower economic growth and have deleterious effects on democratic institutions. Peters ( 2022 ) has recently shown that subnational populist governments in the USA performed worse than non-populist governments on indicators such as education attainment, infant mortality, economic inequality or growth. Lastly, studies on government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic have illustrated how populist leaders ‘mishandled’ the crisis (Bayerlein et al, 2021 ; Lasco, 2020 ; Rentería & Arellano, 2021 ).…”

“…They argue populist governments centralize powers around the executive leader; reassign institutional priorities and resources on a discretionary basis; increase patronage in public appointments; and undermine administrative principles (e.g., accountability). Bauer and Becker (2020) and Peters andPierre (2019, 2020) have further argued populists are less worried about governing effectively than about capturing, sabotaging, sidelining, or dismantling bureaucratic institutions. Others have shown populist governments affect public sector innovation (Borins, 2018) and governance arrangements (e.g., network-based or public-private collaborations; Stoker, 2019).…”

“…However, the study of whether and how populist governments affect democratic policymaking processes remains scarce. There are works that focus on the effects of populist policies on the economy and some policy indicators (Dornbusch & Edwards, 1990, 2007Funke et al, 2020;Peters, 2022). Similarly, some studies have provided information about the way populists influence certain policy areas (Albertazzi & Mueller, 2013;Batory & Svensson, 2019;Caiani & Graziano, 2022).…”