Figure 5.
The figure contains four panels labelled a to d, each showing year on the X-axis from 1920 to 2020. In all panels, a dashed line shows polarization on the left Y-axis ranging from 0 to 0.005. Panel a plots the number of top 0.1 percent longest speeches on the right Y-axis, showing peaks around the late 1930s and late 1970s followed by low values after 2000. Panel b plots law proposals by government on the right Y-axis, increasing sharply after the 1970s. Panel c shows number of bills by M P s, peaking around the late 1970s and declining thereafter. Panel d shows laws passed, rising strongly after 2000.Polarization of parliamentary speech and the efficiency of policymaking
Note(s): Figures compare the development of left–right polarization to that of other societal trends. Polarization is the real series minus the placebo series. The left-hand side scale is for polarization (real-placebo)