What economics has to say about populism

Location: School of International Studies, Paolo Prodi Building, via T. Gar 14 Trento, Room 001
Time: from 14:15 to 16:00

Guest Speaker

• Federico Boffa, Free University of Bolzano

Abstract

Populism has received a lot of attention recently. We will discuss the definitions and characterizations of populism in the literature in economics and political science. We will then use recent empirical and theoretical work in the field of political economics to analyze the economic reasons behind populism (economic crisis, migration, globalization, international trade, insecurity), the political reasons (dissatisfaction with traditional parties, fading away of ideological voting), the technological reasons (development of social networks, and lower cost of voters’ involvement). We will finally investigate the reaction of traditional parties to the emergence of populist competitors, and discuss how populism can shape electoral competition in the future.