Abstract:
Although populism has always been present in society, the ongoing surge in populism is particularly worrisome given its intensity and the persistence of its underlying alleged causes.
We need to highlight the worrying trends, discuss the mechanisms potentially leading to snowball dynamics, and call for concrete actions to restore trust in institutions, especially supranational ones.
The focus of researchers, policymakers and reformers should now be on the consequences of populism for democratic backsliding and on the short run and long run consequences for economic performance and for the functioning of existing institutions.
Massimo Morelli has been elected Fellow of the Econometric Society – and Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory – mostly for his contributions to bargaining, political economy and economics of conflict, while his current work also deals with causes and consequences of populism and law and economics in general.
He obtained the Ph.D in economics from Harvard in 1996 and came back to Italy (Bocconi) in 2014, after having taught at multiple American universities including Columbia.
He has been an active member of the Council of the EEA and now chairing the Minorities in Economics (MinE) committee, with growing passion for all diversity and inclusion concerns.