This paper investigates the macroeconomic and social determinants of voting behavior, and especially of political polarization – defined here as the increasing electoral success of far-right and far-left parties – in 20 advanced countries using annual data from 1970 to 2016 and covering 291 parliamentary elections. Our analysis indicates that the link between income inequality and political polarization appears to have significantly changed over the last 20 years. Indeed, we find that both average net income inequality, as well as the bottom 10% income share are statistically linked to the recent success of far-right parties (but not of far-left parties), while the top 10% or top 20% income shares are not. The link of income inequality and political polarization, and in particular the increasing success of far-right parties, thus seems to be based on the deterioration of the relative economic position especially of the poorest fraction of the population.

本文使用 1970 年至 2016 年的年度数据并涵盖 291选举。我们的分析表明，收入不平等和政治两极分化之间的联系在过去 20 年中似乎发生了显着变化。事实上，我们发现平均净收入不平等以及收入最低 10% 的人在统计上与极右翼政党（但不是极左翼政党）最近的成功有关，而前 10% 或前 20 人% 收入份额不是。收入不平等与政治两极分化的联系，尤其是极右翼政党日益成功，