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Estimating the Socio-Economic Status of the U.S. Capitol Insurrectionists

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  • Komlos John

    (Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, University of Munich, Ludwigstr. 33-IV, 80539, Munich, Germany)

Abstract

The income of those who attacked the U.S. Congress on January 6, 2021 and were subsequently arrested is estimated for the first time using the annual per-capita income in the neighborhood of their residence as a proxy measure. Contrary to common wisdom, we find that two groups were conspicuously underrepresented from this subset of the insurrectionists (N = 933): the utterly poor (whose estimated per- capita income was below $15 K), as well as those whose estimated annual per-capita income was above $50 K per annum. Fully 83.3 % of the arrestees resided in areas with a (five-year average) annual per capita income between $20 K and $50 K (in 2020 prices). This finding dovetails with the argument that the right-wing populist movement in the U.S. is driven largely by the struggling lower-middle class who have been left behind by the transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy. The public policy implications point to the amelioration of this distributional deficit.

Suggested Citation

  • Komlos John, 2024. "Estimating the Socio-Economic Status of the U.S. Capitol Insurrectionists," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 285-300, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:24:y:2024:i:1:p:285-300:n:9
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2023-0255
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