Title

Economic Conditions and the Rise of Anti-Democratic Extremism

Author(s)

Benjamin Crost Benjamin Crost (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)

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%.

Creation Date

2021-03

Section URL ID

Paper Number

24

URL

https://esoc.princeton.edu/WP24

File Function

Jel

D72, D74, H56

Keyword(s)

United States, Great Recession, Economic Conditions, Unemployment, Anti-Democratic Extremism, Anti-Government Movement

Suppress

false

Series

12