How Technological Change Reshapes Politics: Technology, Elections, and Policies (TECHNO)

Technological change is disrupting labour markets in advanced democracies and creating fears about unemployment and the future of work. While it is well-established that rapid technological progress has important economic effects, its political consequences remain largely unexplored. The goal of this project is to study how technological change in the workplace contributes to political transformations, the adoption of policies to address change, and the political consequences of such policies.

The project is organized in four complementary work packages (WP). WP1 examines how workers’ individual economic trajectories and political behaviour change when their industries digitalize. WP2 studies how the introduction of new technology affects local-level political and electoral outcomes through its effects on the local labour market. WP3 assesses how vulnerability to technological change affects citizen preferences for policies to respond to technological change. WP4 analyses the successes, failures, and political consequences of existing policies to address disparities due to technological change.

The project will contribute to understanding how the grievances generated by technological change manifest themselves politically. Our aim is to provide recommendations of politically viable and effective policies to help workers and communities adapt to a fast-changing economic landscape.