Nativism & Economic Anxiety
Moving Past the Far Right Anti-Immigration Movement Through Feel-Good, Pro-Development Policy
Anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise across the western world. It is an observable fact that influxes of immigrant populations into western countries has produced friction and conflict. Some argue it is a product of an inherent conservative bias of the local population, and that rapid change of any sort bristles against expectations.1 Others, with emerging evidentiary support, argue that influxes of immigrants create fodder for agitators and political discontents who scapegoat them.2 And of course, there are those that remind us of the role racist attitudes and ideologies play in fueling anti-immigration movements.3 Regardless there has been a silent revolution across electorates and increasingly political elites towards assimilation and away from accommodation. However, assimilation will not solve the underlying problem fueling the anti-immigration movement: economic anxiety.
Assimilationism is often characterized as the melting-pot view immigration, as seen in the United States. The idea is that people immigrate, largely leaving their prior culture behind, along with its distinctive practices, customs, and expectations. The local population do not accommodate these practices, customs, or expectations, and can often express hostility thereto. Of course, in practice the process is more organic. The most prescient distinctions, which mark a person as foreign and prevent them from “fitting in,” fall away in the melting pot.4 But westernized versions of old cultural practices persist cross-generationally, often becoming assimilated into mainstream American culture themselves.5
The accommodation-based approach is grounded in the tradition of liberal multiculturalism, and finds the idea of public enforcement of a dominant mainstream culture chauvinistic and dangerous, in its tendency to reinforce ethno-nationalist attitudes and eschew the valuable contributions other cultural groups could make to the country.
The vision is described as a multicultural tapestry, and modern Canada is often given as its exemplar.6 Canada has an official policy of multiculturalism which means it actively works against the hegemony of its local dominant culture.7 For example, it engages in affirmative action, providing public funding to preserve the language and promote the heritage of cultural minorities, allows for concentrated immigration patterns that give way to distinct ethno-cultural enclaves forming within towns and cities, and does not engage in per country caps on visas and permanent residencies.8 The central premise of accommodationism is that multiculturality is a strength, and is conducive to a cosmopolitan civic communitarianism that allows the country to work towards shared interest and put particularisms aside without need to rely on the dominance of a hegemonic uniculture to foster common cause and shared identity.
No country is 100% accommodation or assimilation focused, but, we have some movement towards assimilation, such as Denmark’s policy of “forcibly uprooting people from neighborhoods they call ‘ghettos’ and redirecting them to alternative housing,” and officials in Sweden expressing intent to pursue similar policies.9
The Syrian Refugee Crisis of 2015 challenged Europe’s institutional capacity, and since, dissidents within its liberal cosmopolitan order have begun to make headway.10 Far right populists galvanized populations across the continent, relying heavily on anti-immigrant rhetoric. European leaders are supporting harsh stances on immigration, from large-scale deportation to immigration bans.11 Canada has been a holdout but now is facing a reckoning as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to be on his way out, and official opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, is promising to make substantial reductions to immigration.12 Flagrant abuse of Canada’s visa programs has even been recognized by the governing Liberal Party.13
Immigrants are often made the scapegoats for unemployment, inflation (especially with respect to reduced housing affordability), and crime. These theories are generally less than half-true. Large influxes of immigration may for example drive up the cost of housing, however, countries which face this issue seem to struggle to increase housing development and to change zoning laws to allow for greater residential density. As well, failure to integrate immigrant communities into one’s society and economy will no doubt make some likely to turn to crime. However, a more focused policy that ensures newcomers have or are able to get the language skills and education to participate in society and fulfill in-demand roles in the economy will likely help address this issue. And generally, immigrants tend to commit less crime than native born populations.14 As for strain on the welfare system, the evidence is mixed and results differ considerably across countries, but it seems careful policy design can substantially reduce this effect.15
In all, there is a worthwhile critique of modern immigration policy design and implementation in this rhetoric somewhere. But not a critique of large-scale, globalized immigration itself. Rather, it seems data and expert opinion best support criticism of the way immigration policy is implemented and the failure of governments to ensure housing, infrastructure and other development to accommodate a rising population and ensure a smooth integration of immigrants into a new society and economy.
What is more pressing, and what far right populist rhetoric has successfully hit upon, are people’s increasing frustrations with what they perceive as the changing character of their localities or countries.16 Whether induced by agitators, a widespread conservative tendency to distrust change, or some other cause, in the short term, increased immigration leads to increased vulnerability to anti-immigration sentiment.17 Even granting this is all a product of far right agitation, it offers effective fodder for it, presenting a vulnerability to existing liberal cosmopolitan institutions such as the EU. People have, do, and may continue to choose cultural galvanization and conflict over the health of their institutions and their own economic self-interest.18 As a result, I believe that those who remain liberal on immigration will have to fight from an assimilationist center.19
However, we should not think that assimilation will be a solution to the underlying problem of anti-immigration sentiment fueling the populist far-right, which I argue is largely economic. The United States is, in my view, the most successful at assimilating immigrant populations. Not only does it have a strong national uniculture, pronounced regional subcultures, and a culture of assimilation, but also its absolute and per-country caps on visas and green-cards, as well as its massive existing population and plethora of prosperous metro areas immigrants can disperse across make it extremely effective at assimilating immigrants.
Yet still, anti-immigrant rhetoric dominated elections at every level. State politicians curry favor from right wing voters by engaging in theatrics such as putting up barricades at the border (despite the clear illegality of doing so under the constitution) and shuttling illegal immigrants to liberal areas of the country.20 President-elect Donald Trump just won the presidency after campaigning on mass deportations, now promising the deportation of American citizens as well.21 Clearly, an assimilated, productive immigrant workforce and prosperous economic conditions22 is not the solution to anti-immigrant sentiment.23
There is certainly a strong racist undercurrent to anti-immigrant movements. However, popular, explicit racist sentiments did not prevent mass migration through Ellis Island of derided Italian and Irish populations in the last century. Racism is not the explanatory variable here, it is an undercurrent supporting the success of this movement, but its presence or absence is not determinative.
At the same time America’s economy was in excellent condition, though research has shown that Americans' perception of the economy has more to do with their media environment than their material conditions.24 For instance, the majority of Americans in the last election said they were better off four years ago, when they were locked down during the COVID-19 pandemic.25
The US federal reserve adopted a seemingly successful strategy of focusing on employment over driving down inflation as far as they could, to maintain wage growth that has consistently outpaces inflation.26 As well, the current younger generation’s home ownership rates seem to exceed, or at least match that of prior generations at the same age.27 My personal economic thermometer is that young adults seem to use UberEats or other food delivery apps on average about twice a week.28 One does not frequently order a personal taxi for their marked up take-out if they are struggling to put food on the table at all. As unpopular an opinion as it is, my view is that America is experiencing a vibecession, a general economic downturn that exists mostly just on their Facebook feed, though they do face important personal economic struggles.
My premise is that economics underlies the anti-immigration problem in the sense that we have become post-material societies. Across the western world the basic necessities and middling comforts have become more or less assured for virtually all members of society. Almost all have consistent meals and shelter, no one starves to death for scarcity’s sake, and nearly everyone has a universal entertainment system in their back pocket. The primary driver of anti-immigrant sentiment is thus post-material influences such as inequality, identitarianism, and media culture.
In an age where all classes enjoy unprecedented leisure time, they consume more media, daily and many for multiple hours every day. The media they engage with becomes their reality. And anti-immigrant media is sensational, thrilling, suspenseful. It makes for good TV. Just as economic nihilism does, it tells us the end is nigh and the world is falling apart, that the working and middle classes are starving in the street and going untreated for cancer because their insurance claim was denied, that our employers are replacing us with foreign H1B workers who will vote for Democrats, as we order our morning Starbucks coffee on UberEats.
It is not all media though—people’s economic anxieties and goals are real, and for many in the population those goals are very difficult to obtain. However, many believe that in the 1950s, 60s, 70s or whatever golden nostalgia period they have in their head, most young people could buy a house and support a full family at a middle class level with a single full time job. This has never been the case. Populists have fallen for the idealized vision that everyone in the days of black-and-white TVs were living the life portrayed in Leave It to Beaver. People are not at fault for wanting the economy to work better for them, but for believing its current deficiencies with respect to their goals are a product of things getting worse, or that there was some nostalgic golden age when someone in their position would have greater opportunity or spending power.
The reality beyond the masses’ complaints is that they want a house, or a nice apartment with affordable rent, they want more spending power, and they want it now. And they would prefer their lodging be close to a booming and culturally hip metro area as well.29 The myth that America was ever a better environment to achieve these goals then today aside, these are concrete deliverables that policymakers can meaningfully work towards. Kamala Harris promising twenty-five thousand dollars to new home buyers to help them make down payments on a house is a start, but of course would be at least somewhat inflationary, benefiting existing homeowners as demand surges and costs go up. Really we need a zoning revolution, we need to build more housing, and broadly, we need more development.30
Living in the city of Austin, I am amazed that the population has continued to rise, yet this year, rent prices went down.31 How did they do it? Does the government hand out subsidies to depress the rent? Is there any kind of mandatory rent control policy in place? No, they changed zoning laws to make it easier for developers to build mid and high rises, and for homeowners to build condos on their lots, or transform their houses into into multifamily units like duplexes.32
It is a miracle of economic thought and we did not even need Harvard economists to implement it: more people want housing, so let people build more housing. And if this approach comes off too laissez faire for some palettes, the city of Austin also implemented incentivizes for developers to create affordable housing, a subset of rent-controlled units within their projects.33 Hence, in many upscale midrise and high-rises near and in the city, you will find young people and working class people, many of whom have fled California, Washington and other states with bustling metros that have failed to develop their cities and ensure affordability.
Moreover, the University of Texas at Austin created an endowment that completely covers tuition and mandatory fees for all undergraduate students from households making under $100k a year.34 As well, pro-development policies have made Austin among the best cities in the United States to find a job.35 Affordable rent, free college tuition, and substantial job opportunities make Austin an incredible city to be young, and if a bright-blue city can achieve all this in the ruby-red state of Texas, there is no reason other metro areas, states, and the federal government would be unable bring similar reforms to other large metro areas.
Anti-development attitudes are contributing to economic anxieties that fester into resentment and crystalize into populist sentiments. The time has come to decide whether suburban homeowners’ and historical preservationists’ concerns about the character of their neighborhood and their fidelity to its medieval era appearance will trump the needs of the country. The middle aged denizens of beautiful suburbs in the Bay Area may enjoy the multi-million dollar valuation of their single family home, but their windfall is the product of restrictive zoning that is pushing those without the means to keep up out of state. Such economic rent seeking that restricts development of housing, industry, and infrastructure slows down job growth and contributes to inflation. We can no longer afford to put up with such rent seeking now that anti-institutionalist far right populists have learned to distill the resulting economic anxiety into a fuel that powers their movement.
People the world over want to live the American (or Canadian/European) dream, they do not want just their bread and butter, they want relish: they want to do better than they were last year and to feel that improvement in tangible lifestyle improvements. They want to live in the cities they grew up in, or be able to afford to move to or near an exciting metro area. And we are prosperous societies capable enough to give this to them and thereby alleviate some of the anxiety that far right populists cultivate into self-destructive resentment.
As well we need to find a way of making feel-good policies—that are not only sound and lift up the population, but that individuals see day to day and feel good about. Far right populists are good at the opposite, they help the population see the worst in society everyday: the rising number on price tags, the people who look and act differently opening up shops with signs in different languages in the neighborhood you grew up in. Yet no one eats a fantastic shawarma sandwich or vindaloo and says, “man I am happy for our inclusive culture and permissive immigration system that has enabled me to enjoy this delicious food.” They certainly are not diving into statistics to uncover and revel in the incredible positive effects immigration has had disbursed across our social and economic systems.
Certainly part of the problem is the media. Good news does not sell as well as bad news. And far right populists have tapped into a mainstream enough public discontent to shape media narratives far beyond their echo chambers, in turn shaping people’s perceptions. So, while this is a media war, it is not just a media war. We also need development, and we need policy that people tangibly see and feel on a daily basis that makes them feel good about their country and what their government is doing as well.
Matthew Groh & Tara Vishwanath, Is fear of change at the root of Europe’s anti-immigrant backlash?, (2016) https://www.brookings.edu/articles/is-fear-of-change-at-the-root-of-europes-anti-immigrant-backlash/ (“We find that neophobia—the fear of anything new and unfamiliar—is one of the root causes of anti-immigration opinion.“).
Caroline de Gruyter, The Elitist Truth About Far-Right Populism, (2024) https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/12/20/far-right-populism-top-down-europe-switzerland-west-elite/ (arguing that differences in anti-immigrant sentiment in Switzerland between comparable regions and areas closer to the border was explained by the fact that “far-right politicians did not run anti-immigrant campaigns as they did in the areas closer to the border.”).
O. Moreno et al., The intersection of immigration-related racism and xenophobia shaping undocumented immigrants’ experiences with liminality, (2024) https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-57536-001 (“Anti-immigrant sentiments and policies persistently fuel additional racism in the United States.“).
See, e.g., Benjamin Baddorf, Joining White America: How The Irish Achieved Racial Assimilation, Honors Projects & Presentations: Undergraduate, 24.
See, e.g., Britannica, St. Patrick’s Day, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day, (Noting that historically the day was celebrated with religious services and feats until “emigrants, particularly to the United States, who transformed St. Patrick’s Day into a largely secular holiday of revelry”); NRF, St. Patrick's Day, https://nrf.com/research-insights/holiday-data-and-trends/st-patricks-day, (“[A] record 62% or 162 million Americans are planning to celebrate [St. Patrick's Day].”).
See generally V. Seymor Wilson, The Tapestry Vision of Canadian Multiculturalism, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3229490.
Government of Canada, About the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/about-multiculturalism-anti-racism/about-act.html.
Queens University, Multiculturalism Policies in Contemporary Democracies - Canada, https://www.queensu.ca/mcp/immigrant-minorities/resultsbycountry-im/canada-im. See, e.g., Government of Canada, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Program, https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/funding/multiculturalism-anti-racism.html;
See Selma Hedlund, Denmark’s uprooting of settled residents from ‘ghettos’ forms part of aggressive plan to assimilate nonwhite inhabitants, (2024) https://theconversation.com/denmarks-uprooting-of-settled-residents-from-ghettos-forms-part-of-aggressive-plan-to-assimilate-nonwhite-inhabitants-243424.
See Tara Varma & Sophie Roehse, Understanding Europe’s turn on migration, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-europes-turn-on-migration/; Jenny Gross, Steven Erlanger & Christopher F. Schuetze, On Migration, Europe Warms to Ideas Once Seen as Fringe, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/world/europe/europe-migration-shift.html. See, e.g., 'We never let them in': Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán demands new laws tackling migration, https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/09/06/we-never-let-them-in-hungarys-pm-viktor-orban-demands-new-laws-tackling-migration/; Reuters, Italy vows to push ahead with 'innovative solutions' to curb migration, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-vows-push-ahead-with-innovative-solutions-curb-migration-2024-12-23/; Agence France-Presse, Membership of UK’s anti-immigration Reform party overtakes Conservatives for first time, https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3292379/membership-uks-anti-immigration-reform-party-overtakes-conservatives-first-time/.
Eddy Wax, Von der Leyen promises more deportations as EU veers right on migration, (2024) https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-deportations-eu-migration-anti-immigrant-parties-borders-asylum/ (“European leaders are backing deportation centers, sending migrants back to Afghanistan and Syria, and banning asylum in Poland.“).
Ian Bremmer, How Canada Soured on Justin Trudeau, (2024) https://time.com/7098632/canada-trudeau-popularity-election/; Nadine Yousif & Jessica Murphy, How Canada soured on immigration, (2024) https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9z5rpgkyeo; John Paul Tasker, Poilievre says he would cut population growth after Liberals signal immigration changes coming, (2024) https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-immigration-cut-population-growth-1.7308184.
E.g. Uday Rana, International students brought by some for ‘abuse,’ not learning: Freeland (2024), https://globalnews.ca/news/10725213/international-students-abuse-canada/.
See Stephanie Kulke, Immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born (2023), https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/03/immigrants-are-significantly-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-the-us-born/ (“Study finds over a 150-year period, immigrants have never been incarcerated at a greater rate than those born in the United States”); NIJ, Undocumented Immigrant Offending Rate Lower Than U.S.-Born Citizen Rate (2024), https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/undocumented-immigrant-offending-rate-lower-us-born-citizen-rate (“[A] study found that undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes [in Texas]“); Rita Maghularia & Silke Uebelmesser, Do immigrants affect crime? Evidence for Germany (2023), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268123001713 (finding, in Germany, a “negative (or insignificant) effect of immigrants on crime” following the refugee crisis). But see Martin Lange & Katrin Sommerfeld, Do refugees impact crime? Causal evidence from large-scale refugee immigration to Germany (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537123001410 (“[C]rime rates were not affected during the year of refugee arrival, but there was an increase in crime rates one year later. This lagged effect is small per refugee but large in absolute terms and is strongest for property and violent crimes.“).
The Economist, Immigration is changing the Swedish welfare state, (2017), https://www.economist.com/europe/2017/06/08/immigration-is-changing-the-swedish-welfare-state. See generally Alex Nowrasteh & Robert Orr, Immigration and the Welfare State: Immigrant and Native Use Rates and Benefit Levels for Means-Tested Welfare and Entitlement Programs (2018), CATO Institute, (2018), https://www.cato.org/immigration-research-policy-brief/immigration-welfare-state-immigrant-native-use-rates-benefit (“Immigrants who meet the eligibility thresholds of age for the entitlement programs or poverty for the means-tested welfare programs generally have lower use rates and consume a lower dollar value relative to native-born American”), Scott Blinder & Yvonni Markaki, The Effects of Immigration on Welfare Across the EU: Do Subjective Evaluations Align with Estimations?, 3 (2019) https://www.reminder-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/REMINDER-D10.3-The-Effects-of-Immigration-on-Welfare-Across-the-EU.pdf, (“The existing literature does not provide clear data on either the fiscal impact of immigrants—especially when distinguishing intra-EU mobility from non-EU immigration—or the perceptions of the welfare impact of immigration among EU nationals.”).
Pew Research Center, In U.S. and UK, Globalization Leaves Some Feeling ‘Left Behind’ or ‘Swept Up’, (2020) https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/05/in-u-s-and-uk-globalization-leaves-some-feeling-left-behind-or-swept-up/;
See Lenka Dražanová & Jérôme Gonnot, Attitudes toward immigration in Europe: Cross-regional differences, (2023) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10445868/ (“[S]hort-term increases in the share of foreign-born immigrants are correlated with more negative attitudes on both migration policy as well as natives’ assessment of immigrants’ contribution to the country.”). But see Supra Dražanová & Gonnot, (Arguing evidence supports that over the long term, immigration has a positive effect on attitudes to immigration); Chris Lawton & Robert Ackrill, Hard Evidence: how areas with low immigration voted mainly for Brexit, (2016) https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-areas-with-low-immigration-voted-mainly-for-brexit-62138 (“[For Brexit] the lowest Leave votes were mainly in urban areas with high non UK-born populations”).
See Brexit (have); Donald Trump (do); Nigel Farage (may continue to).
In this paper I am not intending to a take a side on assimilation versus accommodation based approaches to immigration, only to observe that anti-immigrant sentiment likely makes the latter harder to win elections on. And I discuss these two approaches as a primer for my argument that simply assimilating migrants, and adopting explicit pro-assimilation views, will not solve the underlying problem contributing to anti-immigration sentiment.
Office of the Texas Governor, Texas Deploys More Than 100 Miles Of Razor Wire To Secure Border, (2024) https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/texas-deploys-more-than-100-miles-of-razor-wire-to-secure-border; Camilo Montoya-Galvez, GOP Govs. Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott send migrants to Martha's Vineyard and vice president's residence, (2022) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ron-de-santis-flies-texas-florida-migrants-marthas-vineyard-kamala-harris-residence/.
Clarissa-Jan Lim, What Trump has said he’ll do on Day 1 of his presidency, (2024) https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-day-one-deportations-jan-6-pardons-tariffs-rcna185019 (“Mass deportations. Pardoning Jan. 6 rioters. Banning trans athletes from sports. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would not be a dictator “except for Day 1” of his presidency, when he plans to act swiftly on those proposals.); Steven Lubet, The Trump administration’s next target: naturalized US citizens, (2024) https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/4992787-trump-deportation-plan-immigration/.
See Erin Delmore, Why US economy is powering ahead of Europe's, (2024) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68203820; American Progress, 7 Reasons the U.S. Economy Is Among the Strongest in the G7, (2023) https://www.americanprogress.org/article/7-reasons-the-u-s-economy-is-among-the-strongest-in-the-g7/; Economic Policy Institute, Average wages have surpassed inflation for 12 straight months, (5/2024) https://www.epi.org/blog/average-wages-have-surpassed-inflation-for-12-straight-months/.
Some will argue that the true issue in America is the illegal immigration. Yet, substantial public discontent over the H1B visa, a legal work visa for skilled workers to come to the United States, recently sparked enormous controversy, with those on the populist right staunchly against any expansion to the program, and expressing negative views of the program as it exists. See Aimee Picchi, Musk and Ramaswamy are sparking a debate over the H-1B visa, (2024) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/musk-vivek-ramaswamy-h1b-visa-maga-immigration-what-to-know/.
See Brookings Institute, Is the economic news becoming more negative, and does it matter for consumers?, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/is-the-economic-news-becoming-more-negative-and-does-it-matter-for-consumers/; FTI Consulting, Perceptions of the US Economy Have Become Deeply Politicized, https://www.fticonsulting.com/insights/articles/perceptions-us-economy-become-deeply-politicized-does-explain-prevalence-downbeat-views; Pew Research Center, Americans' views of the US economy largely negative, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/05/23/views-of-the-nations-economy-may-2024/. But see Dan Hopkins, Media Coverage Doesn’t Actually Determine Public Opinion On The Economy, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/media-coverage-doesnt-actually-determine-public-opinion-on-the-economy/ (arguing and citing research supporting that “the news media’s ability to influence Americans’ perceptions of the economy may be overstated.”).
Yes, a majority of Americans actually said they were better off four years ago, which happened to be during lockdowns and the global pandemic. Mary Claire Evans, Majority of Americans Feel Worse Off Than Four Years Ago, (2024) https://news.gallup.com/poll/652250/majority-americans-feel-worse-off-four-years-ago.aspx.
Reuters, Fed Priorities Shift From Inflation to Jobs, (8/2024) https://www.inc.com/reuters/fed-priorities-shift-from-inflation-to-jobs.html; Economic Policy Institute, Average wages have surpassed inflation for 12 straight months, (5/2024) https://www.epi.org/blog/average-wages-have-surpassed-inflation-for-12-straight-months/.
Redfin, Redfin Reports Gen Z’s Homeownership Rate Stagnated in 2023, But Millennials and Gen X Saw Gains, (2024) https://investors.redfin.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1032/redfin-reports-gen-zs-homeownership-rate-stagnated-in. But see Mikaela Arroyo, Busting Gen Z Myths—What the Housing Industry Needs to Know, (2024) https://jbrec.com/insights/gen-z-and-myths-about-homeownership-for-this-group/.
Sarah A. Buettner, Keryn E. Pasch & Natalie S. Poulos, Factors Associated with Food Delivery App use Among Young Adults, (2023) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10163566/.
Chris Fair, The cities Americans want to live in now, (2024) https://resonanceco.com/news/the-cities-americans-want-to-live-in-now/.
I should note, I am pleased with the Biden administration on this front. Development spurred by legislation such as the Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS Act in industry and infrastructure is precisely the kind of policy we need. The Infrastructure Act makes funding available to build and develop infrastructure such as rail lines, as well as to reform some outdated infrastructure and increase the connectedness and walkability of urban communities. Additionally, the CHIPS Act has that direct, tangible feel-good effect—people see the development of factories in their communities, they get excited, and they fight for that policy. This leads to entrenchment, where Republicans will publicly break with party elites to stand up for such legislation. See the following clip of a local Republican candidate contradicting Republican House Speaker Johnson and insisting he will stand up for the CHIPS Act one elected:
In terms of turning this momentum into short term political capital, the type that would have better helped the democrats win the last election, I think is a media problem. Democrats need vectors for singing the praises of their policy achievements, ensuring Americans are aware they exist, what they are, and how they manifest in their day to day lives. Hence, as I say later on in the essay, the fight against far right populism is in part a media war. It is hardly helpful to the democrats that they passed the most comprehensive funding package to date tackling climate change and the environment in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act if no one knows what that legislation is, whether it was passed, or what it does. How Democrats and other center-left parties ought to go about reclaiming hearts and minds and building an influential media ecosystem that can compete with right wing alternative media is a topic deserving of in-depth treatment in a separate paper.
Kamala Harris’s idea to give first time homebuyers $25k is great on the feel good factor. Though it does not directly address obstacles to development of housing that hinders it despite incredible demand in booming metro areas across the country, it is a large, lump sum payment that people will notice, make decisions on the basis of, and feel good when they receive it. As well when such policy is attacked, if it is important and constituents tangibly feel good about its effects, elites will stick up for it even when politically difficult, and this will also make it harder for media narratives to spin out of control as people organically work to defend such policies.
I focused in this paper on housing policy because it is one area legislators have remained coy about, even as they massively increase investments into infrastructure and industry development. However, housing remains a central economic anxiety for the population as a whole, one that they feel in their everyday experience, paying rent, saving for a down payment, making mortgage payments and so on. At a certain point the speculative value of homeowners properties and their interest in serene suburbs near to bustling metropolises must be outweighed by the national interest. Failure to address this, I think, has contributed to inflation, economic anxiety, and the success of far right populism and the public resentment that fuels it.
Audrey McGlinchy, As rents across the country go up Austin prices continue to fall, (2024) https://www.kut.org/housing/2024-09-10/as-rents-across-the-country-go-up-austin-prices-continue-to-fall.
The Real Deal, Austin forges ahead with YIMBY ratifications, (2024) https://therealdeal.com/texas/austin/2024/05/20/austin-forges-ahead-with-yimby-ratifications/.
City of Austin, City of Austin Affordable Housing Development Incentive Policy Overview, (2023) https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Housing_%26_Planning/Developer%20Incentive%20Matrix__01202023.pdf.
Kate McGee, UT System expands free tuition and fees to all undergraduates whose families make $100,000 or less, (2024) https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/20/ut-system-free-tuition-expansion/.
See Ryan Maxin, Austin ranked best city in Texas — and 5th best city in the U.S. — to find a job, (2024) https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2024/01/30/austin-jobs-best-city-how-to-find-job-texas/72370079007/; Emily Hernandez, Austin ranks among top 20 US cities with best job markets, study shows, (2024) https://www.mysanantonio.com/lifestyle/article/austin-job-market-2024-19508581.php.