Laurenz R. K. Günther

Welcome

I am a postdoctoral researcher at Bocconi University, where I study political representation and populism with Salvatore Nunnari. Generally, I am interested in political, behavioral, and experimental economics. I received my Ph.D. in economics from Bonn University in 2023.

I will be on the 2024/2025 Job Market

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Job Market Paper

Do parliaments in Europe do what their voters and citizens want? My Job Market paper “Political Representation Gaps and Populism” suggests that the answer is “No.”

I document large, significant, and systematic “political representation gaps.” As can be seen in the figure on the right, most mainstream parties are positioned much more liberal on social issues than the mean voter. My paper also provides evidence that these representation gaps are associated with political distrust and filled by populists.

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Policy positions of European voters and parties. Higher values on the vertical axis indicate a more socially conservative positions. Higher values on the horizontal axis indicate more economically right-wing positions.

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