Political economy

This theme focuses on the perception of economic decline, the rise of populism and political polarisation, and the impact of social media and journalism on the political economy.

Our research seeks to provide robust evidence to understand contemporary issues in politics and society. Analysis has included the connection between austerity and Brexit, a study of the changing returns to crime, investigation of Trump’s trade wars, research on the polarisation of the political views of citizens across the world and the impact of Facebook advertising on Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

Theme Leaders

Thiemo Fetzer

Thiemo is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick

Christopher Roth

Christopher is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick

Research highlights

Did austerity cause Brexit?, Thiemo Fetzer
The changing returns to crime: do criminals respond to prices?Link opens in a new window, Mirko Draca, Theodore Koutmeridis, Stephen Machin
Tariffs and politics: evidence from Trump's trade wars, Thiemo Fetzer, Carlo Schwarz
The dynamic effects of tax audits, Arun Advani, William Elming, Jonathan Shaw
How polarised are citizens? Measuring ideology from the ground up, Mirko Draca, Carlo Schwarz
Lords and vassals: Power, patronage and the emergence of inequality, Robert Akerlof, Hongyi Li, Jonathan Yeo

Feature

International Survey on Coronavirus

CAGE Theme Leaders Thiemo Fetzer and Christopher Roth are leading an international survey on Coronavirus from 12 different institutions, including Harvard, Cambridge, IESE, and Warwick University to understand how citizens are preparing for and coping with the spread of COVID-19. Preliminary results can be found hereLink opens in a new window.