17:45 - 20:00
Thursday-Panel
Chair/s:
Paul Marx
Discussant/s:
Nathalie Giger
Meeting Room E

Diana Burlacu
Limited Impartiality: The Effect of Quality of Government on Economic Insecurity

Daniel Stegmueller, Michael Becher
Inequality and support for taxing the rich in times of crisis: survey experimental evidence from 14 countries

Lukas Stoetzer, Johannes Giesecke, Heike Klüver
Perceived Inequality and Populism
Perceived Inequality and Populism
Lukas Stoetzer, Johannes Giesecke, Heike Klüver
Humboldt University of Berlin

Rising inequalities have been described as a fertile ground for populist parties all over the globe. But are individuals who perceive resources in society to be unequally distributed really more likely to support populists? In this article, we present novel evidence on this important question based on a comprehensive comparative analysis across 14 countries based on the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) which we complement with survey experiments in three selected countries. Results from the ISSP point out that in some countries voters who perceive strong inequalities in society are more likely to support right-populist parties like the Progress Party in Norway, Danish People's Party and the Freedom Party of Austria. The comparative survey experiment in Norway, Germany and Italy strengthens the causal interpretation of these findings. Manipulating the perception of societal inequality using factual information about the distribution of income and wealth in the countries increases populist attitudes and the propensity to vote for populist parties. These findings speak to current debates about how macroeconomic changes in inequality became a pre-condition for the rise of populist parties all over Europe.