Seminar: Regional Decline and Right-Wing Political Extremism

Time: 13.00-14.00 hours
Location: CPB-office, Van Stolkweg 14, The Hague

Presentation: Nicolai Wendland (Darmstadt University of Technology)

Discussant: Wilbert Grevers (CPB)

Language: English

Registration:  Please register by sending an email to seminars@cpb.nl.

Abstract subject
Is regional decline a source of discontent? Low housing costs should fully compensate for unfavourable economic conditions or lack of amenities in a spatial equilibrium, yet not all groups in society may be sufficiently mobile to alleviate spatial utility differentials. Identifying population growth on distance to major cities and coalfields, we establish that inhabitants of declining areas in Germany disproportionally vote for the right-wing extremist NPD, which we interpret as an indication of considerable local discontent. We also document that lower-educated, male and older workers are overrepresented among those who stay behind, which is consistent with our conjecture that it is the least mobile households for which the spatial equilibrium framework is least applicable.

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