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α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
We study the effect of economic activity on the vote share of extremist political parties in Europe. Using a model that addresses the prevalent endogeneity problem, which is likely to have discouraged similar research, we find that small fluctuations in income per-capita have significant inverse effects on the vote share of far-right parties. Our results explain the widespread success of such parties in entering European parliaments following the 2007–2008 crisis. They also suggest that, ceteris paribus, far-right parties on the margin of electoral thresholds run the risk of losing parliamentary representation in the face of a steadily recovering world economy.