Mobile Internet and the Rise of Political Tribalism in Europe by Marco Manacorda, Guido Tabellini and Andrea Tesei

Host: Alessandra

Abstract: We study the political effects of the diffusion of mobile internet in Europe between 2007 and 2017, using electoral data and proprietary data across the 84,564 municipalities of 22 major European countries. Our main result is that mobile internet increased voters' support for right-wing populist parties and for parties running on extreme socially conservative platforms, primarily in areas with greater economic deprivation. We complement this evidence with survey data showing that mobile Internet increased tribal attitudes. We conclude that, by fostering off-line tribalism, mobile Internet led to new political demands that were successfully intercepted by right-wing, populist parties.