I think in terms of causality, the economic decay is giving rise to political action.

We didn't see any of this in the post war period until the 1970s as there was a sharp rise in the rate of inflation. The leap frogging between capital and labour over inflation led to an increase in class conflict--historical data showed a rise in strikes and lockouts that peaked in 1976, when over a million people protested on parliament hill. It continued on into the 80s, but not as much, as the policy of full employment was dropped by Ottawa......

The analysis by Cole argues that the economic decay of the hollowing out of industrial sectors (the "rust belt"), gave rise to political actions and grievances, not so much the reverse.....