How Technological Change Reshapes Politics: Technology, Elections, and Policies

Technological advancements in post-industrial democracies are having a dramatic impact on their labour markets affecting unemployment and inequality. While largely undisputed that rapid technological progress has profound economic effects, its political consequences remain less unexplored.

Alexander’s 40-month long Norface-funded project aims to shed light on:

• why people support - and countries adopt - different policies to address technological change,
• whether certain types of taxes and regulations to respond to technological change have popular appeal; and
• what aspects of rapid digitalization programs people find appealing.

He will do this using various methods including analysing cross-national data and gathering new survey data from EU and non-EU countries, with assessment of support for a wide variety of policies to respond to technological change. Alexander is working with colleagues who are examining how technological change in the workplace contribute to ongoing deep political transformations (including the recent surge in support for populist political parties), and who are assessing the effectiveness and political consequences of specific policies in response to such change. 

It is hoped the project will help to better explain how technological advancements shape political outcomes and influence new policies to support workers and communities to adapt to an ever-evolving economic landscape.