Short Run: 'The power of populism' | Episode 4

Find a full transcript of the episode here.

America’s urban-rural divide.

It’s easy to think of American populism as disempowered rural residents versus the urban elite.

But when it comes to influencing national policy, who has the real power?

“The parties end up taking up issues and forming alliances with groups in ways that create a ratchet effect where the urban-rural divide starts to grow as those new issues get folded into the political system," Jonathan Rodden says.

Episode four of On Point's special series 'The power of populism' is all about flipping the script on the urban-rural divide.

Jonathan Rodden, professor of political science at Stanford University. Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Author of Why Cities Lose: The Deep Roots of the Urban-Rural Political Divide.

Danielle Allen, professor and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. (@dsallentess)