Erik Neimanns

Many thanks to the editors, Daniel Stockemer, Stephen Sawyer, and @audreygagnon.bsky.social for inviting me to participate in this project!

Nevertheless, policy feedback can be a useful concept for improving our understanding of policy change and stability, the political consequences of policy design, and, more generally, politics for different types of actors.

In terms of substance, it is remarkable to see that more than 30 years after Paul Pierson´s “When effect becomes cause” (1993, World Politics), scholars continue to struggle to answer the question of “when and how” policies affect politics.

Overall, for the case of policy feedback, I believe that the list of the 20 most-cited articles covers the scientific debate over the last decade quite well. Nevertheless, it was surprising to see some of the texts in the top-twenty list, while other texts that seemed relevant were not included.

Policy feedback has been ranked on place #190 in terms of the frequency of keyword-based references to the concept (slightly higher than gender equality (#192) or economic policy (#197)).

The Companion discusses the 200 most central concepts in top 100 political science journals over the past 10 years. Each entry is based on the 20 most cited articles on the respective concept. I found this bibliometric approach (based on Web of Science data) highly interesting.

Policy Feedback

I have written a short entry on policy feedback for the @ipsa.org Companion to Political Science, an open-access online encyclopedia that has just been published:
link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/...

I will be presenting my study on far-right financial regimes Wed 21st (1pm CET) at the Max Planck Comparative Political Economy Series; join us if you'd like to discuss why Meloni's financial-market policies differ so sharply from Trump's... www.mpifg.de/1030945/curr...

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@difis.bsky.social 🎉

Publikationen | Erik Neimanns Unsere (mit Antonella Faggin) Studie zu „Zugangshürden zu Betreuung im Kita- und Grundschulalter trotz Rechtsanspruch“ ist soeben als Deutsches Institut für Interdisziplinäre Sozialpolitikforschung (D...

Eine ausführlichere Zusammenfassung gibt´s auf LinkedIn:

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Unsere (@antonellafa.bsky.social) Studie zu „Zugangshürden zu Betreuung im Kita- und Grundschulalter trotz Rechtsanspruch“ ist soeben als @difis.bsky.social-Studie erschienen!

www.difis.org/publikatione...

In sum, local elections do matter for childcare expansion in Germany. At the same time, local fiscal constraints translate into lower childcare provision, and into reduced access to childcare – despite the existence of a federal legal entitlement n/n

Does all this still matter in the more recent time of skill shortages/Fachkräftemangel? It does: Childcare expansion comes at the cost of more children per staff – but only in fiscally disadvantaged districts. The consequences of skill shortages will be particularly pronounced in these districts 9/n

At the same time, higher fees for low-income families tend to be associated with lower coverage rates. Again, this association does not apply to middle- and high-income families 8/n

For 47 large municipalities, we show that fees for low-income families remain at higher levels in fiscally disadvantaged municipalities. Notably, we find no such associations for high-income families, although the revenue that could be generated would be much higher 7/n

How do local governments reconcile insufficient levels of childcare provision with the legal entitlement? We argue that by deciding on the level and structure of childcare fees, local governments, deliberately or not, shape the demand, and with this the accessibility of childcare 6/n

The Local Politics of Social Investment Under Fiscal Constraints: The Case of Childcare Expansion in Germany Governments in many of the advanced economies expanded childcare, an exemplary social investment policy, in recent years. Yet, considerable regional variation exists in expansion efforts, and often t...

In particular in districts with high levels of liquidity debt (Kassenkredite), coverage rates remain at lower levels. In such contexts, left-wing government partisanship has been insufficient to close the gap with fiscally better endowed districts 5/n
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Focusing on childcare coverage rates in the more recent past (2019), we see that the effect of government partisanship is conditional on local fiscal conditions. Left-wing governments in the preceding years are associated with higher coverage only in districts with sound fiscal conditions 4/n

Controlling for a range of additional variables, we find that left-wing local governments (SPD, Greens) expanded childcare more than right-wing governments (CDU, CSU, FDP) between 2007 and 2019 in the West German districts 3/n

Years after a legal entitlement to childcare has been introduced, we still see substantial regional variation in childcare coverage rates. This variation does not simply reflect urban-rural divides or differences in female employment rates 2/n

The Local Politics of Social Investment Under Fiscal Constraints: The Case of Childcare Expansion in Germany Governments in many of the advanced economies expanded childcare, an exemplary social investment policy, in recent years. Yet, considerable regional variation exists in expansion efforts, and often t...

Our (@bjoernbremer.bsky.social) paper on childcare expansion (<3y) in 🇩🇪 was just published @reggovjournal.bsky.social! We examine how the interplay between local government partisanship and fiscal conditions explains parts of the regional variation in childcare provision doi.org/10.1111/rego...
1/n

👏 Besonders spannend wäre dieses Schaubild noch danach, in welchen Städten und Bundesländern die Unterschiede zwischen armen und reichen Stadtteilen mehr oder weniger stark ausgeprägt sind.

We’re beyond thrilled to launch the 2nd Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy

If you’re a fellow political economist annoyed by all-male rooms & gendered comments— join us & share!

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🚨 Apply by 25 Apr, 2025

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Political consequences of media ownership concentration

Looking forward to presenting our work (@nilsblossey.bsky.social) on the political consequences of media ownership concentration in the Political Economy Research Group seminar series at CEU (@weareceu.bsky.social) this Thursday: events.ceu.edu/2025-03-06/p...

MAX CPE Workshop Series The Max Planck Online Workshop in Comparative Political Economy (MAX CPE) is an online seminar series in Comparative Political Economy, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies an...

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The MPIfG is seeking a research group leader (tenure track) with a focus on the socioeconomic and political impacts of technological change to set up a new research group at the intersection of #economy, #society, and #technology.

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We conclude that voters´ perceptions of the seeming importance of wage competitiveness may contribute to the political stabilization of export-led growth models, despite the often sobering economic outcomes of stagnating economic growth and rising inequality. 2/2