2025/02/01 by Karim Bekhtiar · 1 voice
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Employment and Welfare Studies #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105315
In recent decades, right-wing populist parties have experienced increased electoral success in many Western democracies. This rise of the far-right, which is strongly built on the support of the working class, coincides with a sharp decline of the manufacturing sector. This paper analyzes the contribution of this manufacturing decline to the rise of the Austrian far-right. Overall, the decline in manufacturing employment has strongly contributed to this rightward shift in the political landscape, with the manufacturing decline explaining around one-third of the observed increase in far-right vote-shares between 1995 and 2019. Regarding the influences of the forces underlying the manufacturing decline, namely international trade and automation technologies, suggests that both forces contributed in roughly equal parts to this development. • The share of manufacturing employment has declined in most Western economies • This trend coincides with the rise of far-right populist parties • This paper shows that the manufacturing decline has contributed to this trend • Around 32% of the increase in far-right voting in Austria is caused by this decline • Trade and technological change have contributed in roughly equal parts to this effect