Bruno Martorano

As the Netherlands moves to the center, Brussels is watching It seems the Euroskepticism that once dominated the political mood has given way to a quiet mandate for cooperation and reform.

Very good piece by @catherinedevries.bsky.social on what the Dutch election might mean for Europe www.politico.eu/article/neth...

Humanitarian concerns and threat perceptions: An analysis of the key drivers of refugee attitudes in Germany Abstract. Public perceptions of humanitarian migration are shaped by conflicting sentiments, balancing perceived threats against humanitarian responsibilit

🎉 I'm excited to share that our new paper (with Tobi Hillenbran, Bruno Martorano, and Laura Metzger) "Humanitarian concerns and threat perceptions: An analysis of the key drivers of refugee attitudes in Germany" has been published in Migration Studies!
academic.oup.com/migration/ar...

Call for Papers: Fragile Lives 2025 HiCN Workshop – HiCN 30 September - 1 October 2025 Berlin, Germany Every year, Fragile Lives convenes international experts from academia, policy, and practice on the use of rigorou

📣The Call for Papers and Sessions of the 2nd international expert conference Fragile Lives on 30 September and 1 October 2025 at Humboldt-University of Berlin in Germany is about to close. 1/6
#callforpapers #Berlin #HiCN #FragileLives @isdcberlin.bsky.social

UNU-MERIT is hiring a Postdoc in AI Innovation Trajectories.

Work within a multidisciplinary team to map and analyse AI innovation pathways using NLP—focusing on their societal impact, especially in sectors like agriculture.

🗓️ Apply by 13 April 2025
🔗 go.unu.edu/m93fc

We are very happy to publish the "National Elections Database," including the results of 1,023 presidential and 2,962 parliamentary elections conducted worldwide since 1946!
www.nationalelectionsdatabase.com
with Benjamin Marx and Vincent Rollet

A graphic offering two paths - cutting international development aid, support for people with disabilities, and investment in green infrastructure, or taxing the rich. Which would you pick?

Cuts to life-saving development aid, essential support for people with disabilities, or investment to tackle the climate crisis are political choices.
You can put a tax on wealth, equalise taxes on wealth with taxes on work, or crack down on avoidance to raise billions right now!

Yesterday IZA, today the DHS 🥲

The DHS are such a key resource for data on health, nutrition, fertility, etc, and a global public good. Now it will be harder to document the damages of shutting down critical health programs among the world’s poorest, but likely this is why they have been terminated

Does Austerity Influence Political Participation and Opinions on Redistribution? How Austerity Shapes Political Engagement in the UK

Bruno Martorano, Laura Metzger, and Patricia Justino examine how UK austerity policies shaped political participation. Their research finds those affected were more likely to vote and push for reform, highlighting the broader link between economic policy and civic engagement.

📄 go.unu.edu/7wzza

#Wealth #inequalitydata are increasingly important to research & policy, yet estimates remain scarce beyond a few developed nations.

👉New paper by F. Avaredo @yonatanberman.com & @morellisal.bsky.social estimates wealth distribution using estates left at death.

🔍Read more wid.world/news-article...

⏰ DEADLINE EXTENDED: UNU-MERIT Director (D-1)

Applications remain open for the Director (D-1) role at UNU-MERIT 🇺🇳. Lead a globally recognised institute at the intersection of academia and the UN, shaping research, education, and partnerships.

Deadline: 14 February 2025
Apply now: buff.ly/3Dz8ZEU

⏳ Deadline Approaching!

Apply for UNU-MERIT’s PhD Programme in Innovation, Economics, Governance & Sustainable Development.

✅ Full-time & dual career tracks
📅 Starts: September 2025
⏰ Deadline: 15 February 2025

Join a dynamic research community shaping policy impact.

🔗 Apply now: bit.ly/4fROa5t

Takers Not Makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism | Oxfam International

New report by OXFAM released today at Davos:

While people are told that #austerity cuts are unavoidable because there’s no money, billionaire wealth is growing 3 times faster than it was just a year ago

#Inequality can and must be reduced

www.oxfam.org/en/takers-no...

#EndAusterity #TaxTheRich

⏳ TWO WEEKS LEFT TO APPLY: Director of UNU-MERIT

UNU-MERIT is seeking its next Director (D-1) to lead research, education, & global partnerships at the intersection of academia and the United Nations system.

🗓️ Apply by: 31 January 2025
📍 Maastricht, Netherlands
🌐 Learn more: buff.ly/3Dz8ZEU

Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes Toward Climate Policies - Social Economics Lab Using new surveys on more than 40,000 respondents in twenty countries that account for 72% of global CO2 emissions, we study the understanding of and attitudes toward climate change

🚨🔢 New data alert! If you are curious about people's attitudes towards climate change and related policies, check out this large-scale survey data from 20 countries from our paper. Publicly available with codes here socialeconomicslab.org/research/pub... 🚨🔢

I've decided to collect my DiD materials in a single place.

psantanna.com/did-resources

There, you will find
- 14 lectures of my comprehensive DiD course
- Shorter lectures/talks I have given on DiD
- My DiD R/Stata/Python packages
- Some DiD checklists
- DiD materials from my friends

Enjoy!

Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive?* Abstract. Workers who are worried about their personal finances may find it hard to focus at work. If so, reducing financial concerns could by itself incre

Recently accepted by #QJE, “Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive,” by Kaur, Mullainathan (@sendhil.bsky.social), Oh, and Schilbach (@fschilbach.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

New job post (please repost) 👇📢POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER in PUBLIC ECONOMICS (“Drivers and consequences of rising economic inequality”) Come and work with us in the InequalityInRome Research team sites.google.com/view/inequal... 3 Jan 2025!
More info here: sites.google.com/site/salvato...

Inequality, social mobility and redistributive preferences In an online experiment, we provide US citizens with information on both inequality of outcomes and opportunities and test the impact on preferences f…

9/ Methodological contribution:
• We are among the first to use video-based interventions to study redistribution preferences.
• Our study is also the only one comparing video to text interventions for the same content.

Full paper: bit.ly/49tmpOz

8/ We add a unique dimension by showing participants that high inequality is avoidable—a perspective rarely tested in representative samples or high-income settings like the US.

7/ Our study breaks new ground by:
• Analysing, within the same experimental setting, how info about different types of inequality shapes preferences for different redistributive policies.
• Highlighting wealth inequality, a topic often overlooked in favour of income inequality in past research.

6/ Our findings also reveal:
• Information on inequality avoidability significantly updates participants' knowledge.
• Information on inequality or social mobility may serve as a primer, as most participants are already aware of high inequality and low social mobility in the US.

5/ Specific groups responded more strongly to inequality information:
• Middle-income earners
• Those with higher trust in the government
• Participants who underestimated inequality levels
• Women

Importantly, these effects weren’t driven by political orientation.

4/ The impact of these messages was amplified when participants also learned that inequality isn't necessary for economic growth.

3/ Our findings:
• Info on high wealth inequality → stronger support for progressive taxation.
• Info on low social mobility → greater preference for redistribution via fiscal spending.

2/ Unlike prior studies, we utilized engaging and relatable video content to effectively communicate key information about inequality. Our goal was to ensure that participants found the material both clear and compelling.

1/ We ran an online experiment in the US, where participants were randomized into groups that watched videos on inequality of wealth (outcomes), social mobility (opportunities), and on its avoidability, i.e., that inequality (of outcomes or opportunities) is not inevitable for economies to grow.

🚨 Do different types of inequality shape preferences for redistribution? Can understanding that inequality is avoidable (i.e., no trade-off between equity & efficiency) boost support for redistribution?
I. Günther and I (@unumerit.bsky.social) explore this in our JEBO paper
A 🧵: bit.ly/49tmpOz

🚨 New paper 🚨 with @pstanig.bsky.social forthcoming at @thejop.bsky.social 🎉 about the political consequences of climate-related disasters 🌲💦⚠️

Pre-print 👉 osf.io/preprints/os...
Summary 🧵👇

The lasting impact of war on trust: Evidence from Sierra Leone Sierra Leone's civil war not only left a legacy of lost lives and damaged infrastructure, but changed the way trust is formed, showing how early-life trauma can shape long-term economic decision makin...

🆕 The lasting impact of war on trust: Evidence from Sierra Leone

Today, Niklas Buehren @WorldBank, Markus Goldstein @WorldBank, Imran Rasul @uclofficial.bsky.social & Andrea Smurra @theifs.bsky.social outline how Sierra Leone's civil war changed the way trust formed: voxdev.org/topic/instit...