The shudder was involuntary, triggered by the news that a Redbridge poll had declared One Nation was Australia's most popular political party.

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Not because of Pauline Hanson's policies, of which there are very few if the party's incoherent website is any indication. Not because of Pauline herself; I've had 30 years to become inured to her tremulous voicing of bigotry and divisiveness. Not because of One Nation's stunts, scandals and bust-ups over the years either.

No, I shuddered because populist governments inevitably end in disaster for the countries which elect them. Even mainstream parties which flirt with populism end up regretful. Look no further than Tony Abbott's brief stint as PM for evidence of that. Great as a populist, aggrieved opposition leader; so hopeless in government his colleagues were compelled to punt him.

Research by the Centre of Economic Policy Research published five years ago tracked the performance of populist governments dating back to 1900. It found that populism is serial in nature. If a country has had a populist government once, it was more likely to have one again, something which defies logic given the CEPR's other main conclusions.

These were that populist leadership was economically costly, associated with long-term decline in consumption and production, and politically disruptive, leading to long-term institutional decay.

You only have to look across the Pacific to see how populism the second time around has been disastrous for the US. Inflation is up, thanks to a costly war few Americans want and from which there is no easy exit. The focus has been on fuel prices but inflation is spreading to the wider American economy. This despite the populist president's election pitch to keep America out of foreign wars and to tackle inflation.

It's not just painful for Americans. The cost of living pressures driving Australians towards the........

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