1. Economic Conditions and the Rise of Anti-Democratic Extremism
- Author:
- Benjamin Crost
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC)
- Abstract:
- This paper provides evidence that adverse economic conditions contributed to the rise of anti-democratic extremism in the United States. A state-level analysis shows that increases in the unemployment rate during the Great Recession led to a large increase in the number of anti democratic extremist groups. The effect is concentrated in states with high pre-existing racial resentment, as proxied by racist web searches, and strongest for the male unemployment rate and the white unemployment rate. If unemployment had remained at its pre-recession level, the increase in anti-democratic groups between 2007 and 2010 could have been reduced by more than 60%.
- Topic:
- Economics, Democracy, Inequality, Far Right, Economic Inequality, and Political Extremism
- Political Geography:
- United States