Individual vulnerability to industrial robot adoption increases support for the radical right

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2111611118
• Publication Date: 2021-11-19T21:45:44Z
• Authors: Massimo Anelli; Italo Colantone; Piero Stanig
• Keywords: 8. Economic growth; 05 social sciences; AUTOMATION, POLARIZATION, VOTING; 004; 0506 political science

SignificanceThe success of radical-right parties across western Europe has generated much concern. These parties propose making borders less permeable, oppose ethnic diversity, and often express impatience with the institutions of representative democracy. Part of their recent success has been shown to be driven by structural economic changes, such as globalization, which triggers distributional consequences that, in turn, translate into voting behavior. We ask what are the political consequences of a different structural change: robotization of manufacturing. We propose a measure of individual exposure to automation and show that individuals more vulnerable to negative consequences of automation tend to display more support for the radical right. Automation exposure raises support for the radical left too, but to a significantly lower extent.