U.S. Innovation Inequality and Trumpism: The Political Economy of Technology Deserts in a Knowledge Economy

174 Pages Posted: 21 Apr 2021 Last revised: 2 May 2024

See all articles by Victor A. Menaldo

Victor A. Menaldo

University of Washington - Department of Political Science; UW Political Economy Forum

Nicolas Wittstock

University of Washington

Date Written: April 21, 2021

Abstract

President Trump embraced economic populism centered on trade protectionism, restrictions on international capital and technology flows, and subsidies for American raw material providers and domestic manufacturers. More innovative U.S. counties roundly rejected this economic paradigm: voters in innovation clusters of all sizes and across the country repudiated Trumpism in both 2016 and 2020. Trump’s tariffs and attacks on global supply chains, restrictions on visas for skilled foreign workers, and his overall hostility towards high-tech sectors threatened the innovative firms that motor these places’ economies. Trump was different in degree but not kind from previous American populists such as Jennings Bryan and Perot: they too exploited innovation inequality, but were less successful because, before the digital revolution, the industrial organization of American technological progress was not rooted in vertically disintegrated global supply chains. Therefore, populism may be more than resentment towards elites and experts and go beyond nationalism and trade protectionism: it may threaten innovation in ways that elicit a strong reaction from places economically invested in technological progress.

Keywords: trade protectionism, neo-mercantilism, tariffs, economic development, inequality

Suggested Citation

Menaldo, Victor A. and Wittstock, Nicolas, U.S. Innovation Inequality and Trumpism: The Political Economy of Technology Deserts in a Knowledge Economy (April 21, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3830957 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3830957

Victor A. Menaldo (Contact Author)

University of Washington - Department of Political Science ( email )

101 Gowen Hall
Box 353530
Seattle, WA 98195
United States

UW Political Economy Forum ( email )

Seattle, WA 98195
United States

Nicolas Wittstock

University of Washington ( email )

Seattle, WA 98195
United States

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