Populism is a multifaceted phenomenon. Sometimes it is right-wing, sometimes left-wing; at times it articulates protest against open markets, and at other times it opposes migration. It also exhibits a variety of geographical distributions: in Southern Europe, left-wing populism dominates, while in Northern Europe, it is right-wing populism. Philip Manow develops a comparative explanation for this initially contradictory picture. The starting point is the respective economic growth models, the structure of the labor market and the welfare state, in short, the respective political economies. It becomes clear: those who want to talk about populism but not about capitalism will inevitably end up discussing identity politics—and will then unavoidably take sides in the dispute.