One can compute a gravity-like measure based on inverse driving time to population. Example for all Commuting Zones in Canada, US & Mexico from work at @HarvardGrwthLab . Feel free to reach out for more details.

Hi Simon, been a while! The book I sent you previously (Reclaiming Populism) argues in the affirmative

What pushes voters toward populists like Trump and Marine Le Pen? Not income inequality, but an unfair lack of economic opportunity youtube.com/watch?v=StDH77Su…

Thanks to @macleans Politics Insider Newsletter for the shout-out about @SusanDelacourt's piece in the @TorontoStar! Trump-style populism is unlikely to come to Canada b/c of our high social mobility - most citizens don't think the system is rigged

If you think a larger, more redistributive state automatically enables greater social mobility you also need to take a hard look at France/Italy, which we did in the book

My and @paulsummerville's new book Reclaiming Populism is a bestseller on Amazon Canada! Order a copy for insight on whether the Freedom Convoy means Canada is going the way of Trump amazon.ca/Reclaiming-Populis…

My and @paulsummerville's new book Reclaiming Populism: How Economic Fairness Can Win Back Disenchanted Voters it the top new release in Canadian Politics on Amazon! Pre-order here: amazon.com/Reclaiming-Populi…

Here's a simplified presentation of some of the regression analysis in the book. Nowhere is populism-free, but countries with high social mobility (like those in Scandinavia) are populism-resistant. For further detail see my paper: growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/pu…

This speaks to the importance of social mobility as a virtue rather than equalized outcomes. A fair society must reward innate talent, not quash it. My research shows that social mobility, not equality, predicts political stability in high-income countries growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/pu…

My research shows that countries with low social mobility (like the US) are structurally susceptible to populism. When family origins influence success instead of talent & effort, folks see the system as rigged. There may be unrest until it's unrigged. growthlab.cid.harvard.edu/pu…