Credit Cycles, Inequality and Populism

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

The scholarly debate on the causes of the recent dramatic rise in populist politics has focused on a range of possible drivers, including the impact of globalization on the distribution of income and employment outcomes, skill-biased technological change, austerity policies, immigration and cultural factors. Some work in this area has considered the role of income and wealth cleavages, but this has focused on Western Europe and the United States. This panel is devoted to exploring the impact of financialization and related credit cycles as potential drivers of income and wealth cleavages as well as populist politics. Among other questions, it asks: how is financialization related to income and wealth cleavages, and how are these linked to culture and identity politics?; how should these factors be theorized and can they be distinguished from traditional political economy models?; how have institutional changes, including central bank independence and regulatory agency reforms, and network dynamics at a global level contributed to income and wealth cleavages?

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 16: International Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• Does Central Bank Independence Promote Inequality? - Michael Aklin, University of Pittsburgh; Andreas Kern, Georgetown University; Mario Negre, German Development Institute (DIE/GDI)

• Let Them Eat Credit: Do Voters Care About Income Inequality? - Puspa D Amri, Sonoma State University

• Financialization, Layering and Populism - Jeffrey M. Chwieroth, London School of Economics; Andrew Walter, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne

• Global Credit Cycles & Growth in Emerging Markets: The Role of Network Position - William Kindred Winecoff, Indiana University; Heather Ba, University of Missouri

Chair

• Julia Gray London School of Economics

Discussant

• David A. Singer Massachusetts Institute of Technology