Inequality and Distributive Politics - IDP

In the third episode of podcast series, Benjamin Ashworth and Stephen Ramsay (University of Strathclyde) discuss politicians' occupational backgrounds in Latin America and Europe, exploring which professions they come from and how career paths differ across regions. wealthpolicies.eu/podcast-no-3...

Last week we welcomed @heikekluever.bsky.social to talk about "Who Becomes a Lobbyist?" — a comparative look at career pathways, networks, and the role of institutional differences that shape political influence in Germany & the U.S. Thanks to everyone for the lively Q&A!
inq-dp.eu/index.php/ev...

6/6 🧵In @electoralstudies.bsky.social, @joshgoddard98.bsky.social studies influence of homeownerhip on voting behavior. Housing & election data from 14 countries. Results show homeowners are increasingly more likely to vote for center-right parties & renters for radical left parties. doi.org/qh8v

5/6 🧵 In @ejprjournal.bsky.social Pitsch & Wenzelburger estimate MP response to lobbying using randomized response technique to elicit honest answers by ensuring anonymity. Anonymity ensured by lumping answers with yes answers to other questions. Find small response to lobbying doi.org/qh8r

4/6 🧵In @poppublicsphere.bsky.social Short, @sophieehill.bsky.social & Brown advance theory of ideological capture (IC). Use 🇺🇸 antitrust policy case with original survey of citizens & lawyers. Among others, IC characterized by cleavage in policy support between experts & public doi.org/qh8p

3/6 🧵 In @ejprjournal.bsky.social, M. R. Eidheim expands class-based grievance to spatial perception of redistribution & deservingness. Via 3 survey experiments, she shows rural/working-class voters believe urban areas get disproportionate resources in 🇳🇴. doi.org/qjgz

2/6 🧵In @spsr.bsky.social, @awenig.bsky.social studies drivers of biases of politicians' perceptions of public opinion in favor of the rich. Matching elite & citizen surveys in 🇨🇭. Strong bias on economic issues driven by politician occupational background not lobby contact. doi.org/qh8t

1/6 📰🧐 Research Digest November 2025 - Politician background and biased perceptions in 🇨🇭 - Redistribution and Deservingness between places/people 🇳🇴 - Ideological capture in the 🇺🇸 - Honest MP responses to lobbying in 🇩🇪 - Homeownership & voting behavior

6/6 🧵In @polstudies.bsky.social, @rtpedersen.bsky.social & Hansen examine strategies to communicate municipal budget cuts with a survey experiment in 🇩🇰. Only justification (e.g. emphasizing trade-offs) reduces opposition, blaming others & numerical reframing do not work. doi.org/qcsh

5/6 🧵 In @thejop.bsky.social @pberamendi.bsky.social @aslicansunar.bsky.social & Duch research how the design of tax-&-transfer systems shapes people’s willingness to comply. They find that compliance isn’t only about fear but also who gains and who loses from the system. doi.org/qcs3

4/6 🧵In @apsrjournal.bsky.social, Incerti studies the revolving door for bureaucrats in🇯🇵. Firms hiring high ranking bureaucrats, particularly from finance-related ministries, receive more government loans and experience stock market gains. doi.org/qcsm

3/6 🧵In SER, @robertmanduca.bsky.social & coauthors study how economic segregation & jurisdictional fragmentation overlap, leading to unequal tax bases b/w municipalities within a metro area. Admin & real estate data in 🇺🇸. Results show that there are many local tax havens in US. doi.org/qcsk

2/6 🧵In @electoralstudies.bsky.social, @fedetrastulli.bsky.social argues while left parties lost working-class votes between 2002-2020, those emphasizing cultural issues still attract working-class voters. Culture but not class explain workers’ support for the left. doi.org/qcs2

1/6 📰🧐 Research Digest October 2025 - Left parties and working class support - Tax base inequality in 🇺🇸 - Revolving door in 🇯🇵 - Tax Compliance in 🇨🇱 - framing budget cuts in 🇩🇰

Thanks to Mayor Dr. Thomas Spies for hosting, to Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-Zistel & Prof. @mqpellicer.bsky.social fro the @zfk-mr.bsky.social for opening remarks, and Stéphane Voell / @st3phm4rb.bsky.social for the great pictures.

Kickoff done! “Marburger Stadtgespräch” & Future of Democracy (Mon, 20 Oct). @leaelsaesser.bsky.social on working-class political careers, the role of trade unions, and contrasts with uni graduates. Thanks also to our engaged audience for a great discussion! More: tinyurl.com/e3pyhstd

Join us on Monday, Oct 20 (18:30–20:00) with @leaelsaesser.bsky.social for “Wer sitzt (nicht) im Parlament? Wahlen und ungleiche Repräsentation im Bundestag?” opening our Money & Politics public series in Marburg. Venue: Historischer Rathaussaal. Talks in German. More: inq-dp.eu/index.php/ev...

6/6 🧵In @thejop.bsky.social Scheve & @stasavage.bsky.social use time-series data for many countries, showing that democratization increases anti-trust legislation, but only in places with low inequality. doi.org/p76h

5/6 🧵 In @polbehavior.bsky.social, @hanslueders.bsky.social ask, do exclusionary local policies change where immigrants want to live? Findings of 🇲🇽 immigrants in 🇺🇸 show they do but financial concerns often win and naturalized citizens respond due to discrimination and safety worries. doi.org/p76d

4/6 🧵In @poppublicsphere.bsky.social, @edwardgoldring.bsky.social, Schmid & Apaydin find blame-shifting (esp. force majeure) by autocrat backfires. Survey experiment: Erdogan’s approval dropped (6-8%) among upper class after the 2023 earthquake in 🇹🇷. doi.org/g93527

3/6 🧵In @thejop.bsky.social, Meisels compares different measures of congressional candidates’ responsiveness in primaries. Text data from 🇺🇸. Results show that campaign platform data suggests more responsiveness and greater incentives for extremism than campaign finance data. doi.org/p76n

2/6 🧵In @politicalgeography.bsky.social, Willumsen examines preferences of MPs and voters for location of capitals in 🇩🇪, 🇦🇹 & 🇨🇭. All purely selfish, prefer close locations irrespective of national or state level capital. doi.org/p76k

1/6 📰🧐 Research Digest September 2025 - Choosing capital cities in 🇩🇪, 🇦🇹 & 🇨🇭 - Primary responsiveness in 🇺🇸 - Populist blameshifting backfires in 🇹🇷 - Effects of local policies on internal migration - Inequality, democracy and anti-trust legislation

6/6 🧵Shorrocks, Ralph-Morrow & de Geus in @bjpols.bsky.social study voter sexism and electoral penalties for women candidates. While they find no effect for voter sexism on support for women generally, they find that abstention is an electoral choice for sexist partisans in the USA. doi.org/p4qr

5/6 🧵In APSR, @alexanderhorn.bsky.social @klueserthan.bsky.social & Haselmayer study party manifesto response to income inequality in 12 OECD countries. Left parties mention economic inequality issues more when inequality increases, but not in higher inequality settings https://doi.org/g9zm39

4/6 🧵Using survey experiment, Magalhães et al (2025) in @ispp-pops.bsky.social show voters (in 🇵🇹) support weaker due process rights for corruption suspect from opposing party vs their own party. Out-group derogation prevails in-group favoritism in corruption evaluation. https://doi.org/p4qt

3/6 🧵Goerres & @jeicheler.bsky.social in @electoralstudies.bsky.social, use a solidarity game to study whether party alliance or left-right self-assessment predicts solidarity in 🇩🇪 & 🇦🇹. They find that left-right selfplacement predicts solidaric behaviour but depends on context. doi.org/p4qq

2/6 🧵In @apsrjournal.bsky.social @jacklucas.bsky.social et al. compare politicians’ & citizens’ theories of voting with surveys in 11 countries. Evaluate 8 theoretical debates, e.g. sociotropic vs. pocketbook. Many differences. Politicians think voters more short-sighted & egoistic doi.org/g8rckv

1/6 📰🧐 Research Digest August 2025 - Politician beliefs about voters - Self-assessment and solidaric behaviour - Voters’ evaluation of politicians’ corruption - Inequality and party manifestoes in OECD - Voter sexism and women candidates