Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
The Surge of Economic Nationalism in Western Europe
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 33,
no. 4, Fall 2019
(pp. 128–51)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
We document the surge of economic nationalist and radical-right parties in western Europe between the early 1990s and 2016. We discuss how economic shocks contribute to explaining this political shift, looking in turn at theory and evidence on the political effects of globalization, technological change, the financial and sovereign debt crises of 2008–2009 and 2011–2013, and immigration. The main message that emerges is that failures in addressing the distributional consequences of economic shocks are a key factor behind the success of nationalist and radical-right parties. We discuss how the economic explanations compete with and complement the "cultural backlash" view. We reflect on possible future political developments, which depend on the evolving intensities of economic shocks, on the strength and persistence of adjustment costs, and on changes on the supply side of politics.Citation
Colantone, Italo, and Piero Stanig. 2019. "The Surge of Economic Nationalism in Western Europe." Journal of Economic Perspectives 33 (4): 128–51. DOI: 10.1257/jep.33.4.128Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- F52 National Security; Economic Nationalism
- G01 Financial Crises
- H63 National Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification