Neither left behind nor superstar: ordinary winners of digitalization at the ballot box

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• dc.contributor.author Gallego Dobón, Aina
• dc.contributor.author Kurer, Thomas
• dc.contributor.author Schöll, Nikolas
• dc.date.accessioned 2022-02-10T08:13:41Z
• dc.date.issued 2022
• dc.description Supplemental material file: online appendix
• dc.description.abstract The nascent literature on the political consequences of technological change studies either left-behind voters or successful technology entrepreneurs (“superstars”). However, it neglects the large share of skilled workers who benefit from limited but steady economic improvements in the knowledge economy. This article examines how workplace digitalization affects political preferences among the entire active labor force by combining individual-level panel data from the United Kingdom with industry-level data on information and communication technology capital stocks between 1997 and 2017. We first demonstrate that digitalization was economically beneficial for workers with middle and high levels of education. We then show that growth in digitalization increased support for the Conservative Party, increased support for the incumbent party, and voter turnout among beneficiaries of economic change. Our results hold in an instrumental variable analysis and multiple robustness checks. While digitalization undoubtedly produces losers (along with some superstars), ordinary winners of digitalization are an important stabilizing force that is content with the political status quo.
• dc.description.sponsorship The research leading to these results has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness under the CSO2016-79569-P and the SEV-2015-0563 projects; from the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Foundation through the Digital Technology, Ideological Polarization, and Intolerance project; and from the NORFACE Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age Joint Research Progra, file no. 462.19.336.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Gallego A, Kurer T, Schöll N. Neither left behind nor superstar: ordinary winners of digitalization at the ballot box. The Journal of Politics. 2022 Jan;84(1):418-36. DOI: 10.1086/714920
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/714920
• dc.identifier.issn 0022-3816
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/52457
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher University of Chicago Press
• dc.relation.ispartof The Journal of Politics. 2022 Jan;84(1):418-36
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/1PE/CSO2016-79569-P
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/1PE/SEV-2015-0563
• dc.rights © University of Chicago Press http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ET/home.html
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.title Neither left behind nor superstar: ordinary winners of digitalization at the ballot box
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion