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Social mobility, education and populism

Author

Listed:
  • Perelman, Sergio

    (Université de Liège)

  • Pestieau, Pierre

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

  • Racionero, Maria

Abstract

In this article, we show that the populist attitudes that lead to extremists voting and social unrests can be explained by the breakdown of the social elevator, i.e. the decline in social mobility. This explanation seems to apply to all the 27 European countries studied. It is particularly surprising in countries like Belgium and France, which devote around 30% of their GDP to social protection. It would seem that these welfare states naively believed that simply combating poverty and social inequality was enough to revive the social elevator. This does not seem to be the case.

Suggested Citation

  • Perelman, Sergio & Pestieau, Pierre & Racionero, Maria, 2023. "Social mobility, education and populism," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2023026, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvco:2023026
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Populism ; social mobility ; education policy ; Gatsby curve;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

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