Thomas Piketty: 'The right-wing has benefited from the left-wing being too timid'

Politik ()

Recognized French economists Thomas Piketty and Julia Cagé explain in their new book 'The History of Political Conflict' why the left-wing labor vote has declined in various European countries.

By Anne Stampe Arndt ([email protected]) Today at 17:29

A misguided and overly lenient immigration policy is not the solution to the crisis of the European left.

At least not according to two of the world's leading economists, Thomas Piketty and Julia Cagé.

In their new book 'The History of Political Conflict,' they have analyzed data from all French elections since the revolution in 1789 and provide an explanation for why the left has lost working-class voters around Europe and why many have turned to the extreme right instead.

- People often say that people vote for the far right (on issues related to immigration, red.), but that's not it. The primary cause is not immigration. It's income, jobs, and housing, Julia Cagé tells Deadline.

Historically, the working class has voted most to the left of center, but Julia Cagé explains that a split emerged between the working class in the city and the working class in the countryside during the 20th century. And today, the working class in the city and the countryside vote differently:

- The new trend we saw in the data set in the last 20-30 years was that a part of the working class in the countryside suffered more under globalization and was attracted to the extreme right. They don't vote for the extreme right because of immigration and immigrants.

According to Thomas Piketty, the right has benefited from the fact that the left has been too unambitious. At the same time, centrist parties have continued to argue that there is no alternative to economic policy, the fight against deindustrialization, and all the social issues that concern voters the most.

- If you're less ambitious when it comes to redistribution and reducing inequality, investing in education and climate, and continue to tell voters that the government can't do anything about inequality and that they can only control borders and identity, then politics becomes about border control and identity 10-20 years later, he says.

Read the entire interview with the two authors in Deadline.

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