Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

The Populist Backlash Against Globalization: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Courtney McNamaraORCiD

Downloads


Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.The literature on populism is divided on whether economic factors are significant and robust causes of populism. To clarify this, we performed the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence of a causal association between economic insecurity and populism. We combined database searches with searching the citations of eligible studies and recently published reviews. We identified and reviewed thirty-six studies and presented a concise narrative summary and numerical synthesis of the key findings. Although we found significant heterogeneity in several dimensions, all studies reported a significant causal association. A recurrent magnitude was that economic insecurity explained around one-third of recent surges in populism. We tested for publication bias by conducting a funnel-plot asymmetry test and a density discontinuity test of the distribution of t-statistics. We found significant evidence of publication bias; however, the causal association between economic insecurity and populism remains significant after controlling for it.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Scheiring G, Serrano-Alarcon M, Moise A, McNamara C, Stuckler D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: British Journal of Political Science

Year: 2024

Volume: 54

Issue: 3

Online publication date: 22/02/2024

Acceptance date: 03/01/2024

Date deposited: 19/06/2024

ISSN (print): 0007-1234

ISSN (electronic): 1469-2112

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123424000024

DOI: 10.1017/S0007123424000024

Data Access Statement: Replication data for this article can be found in Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/F58FVN.


Altmetrics

Altmetrics provided by Altmetric


Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 890187

Share