Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Italo Colantone is a political economist whose research sits at the compelling intersection of globalization, technological change, and political behavior. His most influential work examines how economic disruptions — particularly automation and industrial transformation — shape voting patterns and fuel the rise of populist and radical-right movements across Western democracies. Colantone's most cited contribution, "Individual vulnerability to industrial robot adoption increases support for the radical right" (2021, 114 citations), demonstrates a rigorous empirical link between workers' exposure to automation and their turn toward radical-right parties across 13 European countries. This finding has become central to scholarly debates about the economic roots of populism. His closely related series of studies published under the title "We Were the Robots" (2019), collectively accumulating over 150 citations, further establishes how automation-driven job displacement translates into measurable electoral shifts, offering some of the most granular individual-level evidence in the field. By connecting labor market vulnerabilities to democratic backsliding, Colantone's work carries significant implications for policymakers grappling with inequality and political polarization. His research has become essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why technological progress can carry profound — and sometimes destabilizing — political consequences.