Place and Policy Preferences – Attitudes Towards Social and Labour Market Policies in Left Behind Regions

The rise of the knowledge economy has led to a bifurcation between prosperous cities on the one hand and left behind towns and rural areas on the other hand. Increasingly we find young, educated, cosmopolitans concentrated in urban economic hubs and aging, left behind, conservatives geographically separated in suburban and rural regions. The political implications of this divide have become visible with Brexit, Trump, and the rise of populist parties across Europe and beyond. Besides voting behaviour, place has been proven to affect a range of socio-cultural attitudes and identities. What remains unclear however is how place shapes economic policy preferences. What kind of social and labour market policies resonate with those stuck in left behind regions? Based on recent arguments by the welfare state literature, I contend that citizens in left behind regions prioritize policies that enhance job security or provide cash benefits (social security) over policies that create and mobilize skills to cope with the requirements of the knowledge economy (social investment). Using data from an original survey in four West European countries (Germany, Spain, Sweden, UK) on social and labour market policy preferences, this paper shows that in rural areas, social security measures are deemed more important than social investment policies. This stands in sharp contrast to policy solutions that aim at a sustainable development of remote regions by investing in skills and capabilities, such as promoted by rationalist or technocratic approaches. These findings contribute to a bigger discussion about how to compensate left behind regions and thereby how to moderate populist appeals.