My research focuses on the relationship between politicians and citizens. This involves topics like political representation, the rise of populism, polarization, and mistrust toward politicians and political institutions. I analyze these topics in the context of Europe.
At the moment, I focus on two broad research objectives. First, I estimate “political representation gaps,” which measure how policymaking differs from the policy attitudes of voters. Second, I analyze how policymaking should respond to representation gaps. I am also interested in many other topics, like inequality attitudes and low birth rates in Europe.
Working Papers
Political Representation Gaps in Europe
Do parliaments in Europe do what their voters and citizens want? This paper shows that frequently they dont and how these “representation gaps” relate to populism.
Media coverage: IEP@BU1, IEP@BU2, IEP@BU3, The American Saga
Inherited Inequality and the Dilemma of Meritocracy
with Timo Freyer
R&R at Experimental Economics
Many find unequal opportunities unfair. But if people are allowed to support their children or friends opportunities will always be unequal. How do people handle this “Dilemma of Meritocracy”?
Would Europeans Accept Immigrants if they Knew them?
This paper presents a method to estimate attitudes of natives toward immigrants who hold biased beliefs toward immigrants if they were informed about the actual characteristics of immigrants.
Work in Progress
Information Interventions can Increase Opposition to Immigration
Recent research has shown that Europeans overestimate the number of immigrants in their country. This is not true when asking about the number of asylum seekers.