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Populism and Social Polarization in European Democracies
[Bien-Être et Vote]

Author

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  • Victor Ginsburgh
  • Sergio Perelman
  • Pierre Pestieau

Abstract

The objective of this article is to explain populist attitudes that are prevailing in a number of European democracies. Populist attitudes usually lead to social protests and populist votes. We capture the populist wave by relying on values that are traditionally viewed as populist—such as distrust of institutions and neighbors, rejection of migrations, and strong preferences for law and order—rather than on voting behavior. Our study covers the period 2004–2018 and 25 European countries for which we match aggregated indicators of populist values and social polarization based on ESS and SILC survey micro-data. We show that social polarization varies dramatically across European regions, but at the same time, some convergence is observed. Our estimations confirm, in most cases, a positive and statistically significant relation between social polarization and populist attitudes. (JEL codes: D63 and I30)

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Ginsburgh & Sergio Perelman & Pierre Pestieau, 2021. "Populism and Social Polarization in European Democracies [Bien-Être et Vote]," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 67(4), pages 371-404.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:67:y:2021:i:4:p:371-404.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gubello, Michele, 2024. "Social trust and the support for universal basic income," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Andreas, Marike & Kaiser, Anna K. & Dhami, Raenhha & Brugger, Vincent & Sniehotta, Falko F., 2025. "How beliefs and policy characteristics shape the public acceptability of nutritional policies—A survey study in Germany," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    populism; polarization; social divide;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

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