Paper #1861

Títol:

Do incompetent politicians breed populist voters? Evidence from Italian municipalities

Autors:

Federico Boffa, Vincenzo Mollisi i Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto

Data:

Març 2023

Resum:

Poor performance by the established political class can drive voters towards anti-establishment outsiders. Is the inffectiveness of incumbent politicians an important driver of the recent rise of populist parties? We provide an empirical test exploiting a sharp discontinuity in the wage of local politicians as a function of population in Italian municipalities. We find that the more skilled local politicians and more effective local government in municipalities above the threshold cause a signiÂ…cant drop in voter support for the populist Five-Star Movement in regional and national elections. Support for incumbent governing parties increases instead.

Paraules clau:

Populism, Government e¢ ciency, Politician quality, Political agency

Codis JEL:

D72, D73, H70

Àrea de Recerca:

Macroeconomia i Economia Internacional

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