Without Roots: The Political Consequences of Collective Economic Shocks
While an abundance of scholarly work investigates how economic shocks influence the political behavior of affected individuals, we know much less about their collective effects. Exploiting the sudden onset of a plant disease epidemic in Puglia, Italy—where the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa devas...
| Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | IE |
| Repository: | Repositorio IE |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.ie.edu:20.500.14417/3982 |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055425000073 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3982 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/without-roots-the-political-consequences-of-collective-economic-shocks/1BA32999CD907689CA66A6CB06B8519B |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Social and Behavioral Sciences Political Science Comparative Politics 59 Ciencia Política ODS 10 - Reducción de las desigualdades |
| Summary: | While an abundance of scholarly work investigates how economic shocks influence the political behavior of affected individuals, we know much less about their collective effects. Exploiting the sudden onset of a plant disease epidemic in Puglia, Italy—where the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa devastated centuries-old olive groves—we explore the collective effects of economic shocks. By combining quantitative difference-in-differences analysis of municipal data with a novel case selection strategy for qualitative fieldwork, we document the hardship caused by the outbreak, and estimate a 2.2-percentage-point increase in far-right vote share. We show that preexisting public service deprivation moderates the shock’s political consequences through a community narrative of state neglect. These findings highlight that preexisting community conditions shape the political consequences of economic shocks, and that plant disease epidemics—which are becoming more prevalent due to climate change—have important political effects. |
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