The Political Economy of Inequality: From Campaign Finance to Radical Voting (Pre-Recorded)

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel presents findings on how economic inequality affects political behavior. The rise in inequality has become a prominent feature of mature democracies in the last decades. This panel contributes novel insights in three forms. Firstly, we present findings showing how inequality is politicized. From a national case study in Italy, we show that political parties exploit social media to shape voters’ perceptions of inequality and consequently their own party approval ratings. In a similar vein, studying radical right support in Spain for Vox, local newspapers influence the political message and can shift political behavior. Secondly, we shift the focus away from equality of outcome to equality of opportunity. Individuals’ social mobility trajectories impact the probability of supporting anti-system right parties in Europe. Finally, the impact of income inequality in the income distribution on the individual decisions to donate to political campaigns has substantially grown over time in the United States, showing that economic disparities have the potential to translate into political inequality. From the elite narrative over inequality to the effect of these disparities on support for radical right parties and on the decision to donate to political campaigns, this panel presents novel methodologies and timely findings to better comprehend the nexus between economic inequality and political behavior.

Sub Unit

• Division 6: Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• Political Donations & Economic Inequality: Evidence from Campaign Contributions - Alberto Parmigiani, London School of Economics; Valentino Larcinese, London School of EConomics

• Intergenerational Social Mobility and Anti-System Voting: The Journey Matters - Andrew McNeil, London School of Economics

• Populist Swing: How Italy’s Parties Exploit Inequality Rhetoric - Giovanni Francesco Angioni, London School of Economics and Political Science

• The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Local Newspaper & Support for the Radical Right - Beatriz Jambrina Canseco, LSE

Chair

• Tomila Lankina London School of Economics and Political Science

Discussant

• Giulia Leila Travaglini columbia unviersity