Luigi Zingales, a Chicago Booth professor and expert on corporate governance, joins Amir Sufi, who studies financial crises and inequality. They explore the enduring factors behind Trump's appeal, highlighting the parallels between past and present electoral dynamics. Discussing economic anxieties, they reveal how inflation and globalization fears shaped voter sentiment. The rise of the far-right globally is also scrutinized, illustrating how systemic inequality and political disenchantment have fueled support for extreme movements, echoing earlier trends.
Trump's appeal in both 2016 and 2025 is driven by economic anxieties and widespread disillusionment with traditional political institutions.
The rise of populist leaders like Trump echoes broader societal frustrations, revealing deep-rooted issues related to economic inequities and globalization.
Deep dives
Continuity in Trump's Appeal
The factors contributing to Donald Trump's appeal in his presidency show remarkable continuity from 2015, with economic concerns and disillusionment with political institutions being prominent themes. Many voters are driven by their experiences with inflation and the impacts of globalization, which resonate with sentiments noted a decade earlier. This dissatisfaction reflects a broader trend of disenchantment that has fueled Trump's base, as evidenced by the persistence of economic anxieties in the electorate. The conversation underscores that Trump's re-election did not emerge from a vacuum, suggesting deeper societal forces at play.
Historical Parallels with Berlusconi
Luigi Zingales draws parallels between Donald Trump and Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi, highlighting similarities in their backgrounds and rise to political prominence. Both figures cultivated support among business-minded voters while navigating a landscape marked by corruption, particularly within the real estate sector. Zingales notes that this appeal capitalizes on the conflation of pro-market ideologies with pro-business sentiments, revealing a profound misunderstanding among audiences. The enduring influence of such figures indicates that trends of political populism are not isolated phenomena but reflections of broader societal conditions.
Economic Downturns and Political Polarization
Economic downturns systematically lead to increased political polarization, with evidence suggesting that significant financial crises contribute to the rise of extreme political factions. The narratives of frustration and loss resulting from collapsed real estate markets create a divide between creditors and debtors, often culminating in voters feeling alienated from traditional party structures. Data supports the notion that communities adversely affected by economic shocks gravitate towards more extreme political candidates, intensifying factional divisions. This polarization is not purely an immediate reaction but rather a protracted response to long-standing structural inequities.
Globalization and Rising Inequities
Globalization, while initially beneficial to many developed countries, has increasingly left certain worker demographics behind, fostering resentment towards the elites. Many workers feel the impacts of these shifts are neither random nor impermanent; instead, they perceive persistent patterns of inequality exacerbated by political decisions that favor creditors over debtors. The inability of these workers to recover from economic shocks—like declines in specific job markets—fuels a narrative of a rigged system, pushing them towards populist leaders. This environment of heightened economic dislocation and political frustration cultivates fertile ground for both far-right and far-left movements, highlighting the interconnectedness of economic and political dynamics.
Are the factors that propelled Donald Trump to power this time around broadly the same as those that helped him win his first election victory in 2015? While the circumstances are different from a decade ago, the secular societal forces that drive support for Trump are also strikingly familiar. Welcome to the Chicago Booth Review podcast, where we bring you groundbreaking academic research in a clear and straightforward way. I’m Hal Weitzman. Today, as we prepare for another Trump inauguration, we’re digging into the CBR archives to revisit a conversation between Chicago Booth’s Luigi Zingales and Amir Sufi about the fundamentals behind Trump’s appeal. The conversation was filmed in May 2016 as part of our Big Question video series, which brings together Booth faculty for an in-depth discussion. We wanted to bring it back because we were struck more by a sense of continuity than change. For some observers, Trump’s re-election was all about economics, chiefly voters’ experience of inflation and their mistrust of globalization. To others, it reflects a general disenchantment with politicians and political institutions. Those are the same phenomena that Zingales and Sufi pinpoint. The discussion also touched on the rise of the far-right across the world, which at the time was still on the margins of politics, but has since taken power in several large democracies.
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