Die AfD war bei der Bundestagswahl in Ostdeutschland etwa doppelt so erfolgreich wie in Westdeutschland. Beobachter machten dafür bisher vor allem wirtschaftliche Faktoren verantwortlich. Wir können dagegen zeigen, dass nicht das ökonomische Ungerechtigkeitsgefühl, sondern die Ablehnung von...

This article examines how input relationships in fragmented production systems shape functional income inequality. We argue that input specificity - reflecting the degree of specialization in intermediate goods production - affects workers' bargaining power and, consequently, the labor share...

In this commentary, we argue for the low-impact city as an alternative to the dominant urban imaginary of the low-carbon city. We adopt an ecological economics lens to expose the limitations of the urban resource efficiency paradigm when tackling environmental degradation beyond city boundaries....

I present the first database of historical local population figures for all Germany. The German Local Population Database (GPOP) includes total population in 1871, 1910, 1939, 1946, 1961, 1987, 1996, 2011, and 2019 for the universe of all German municipalities, counties, and states at consistent...

Does social media or offline social cohesion overcome collective action problems more effectively when both types of networks are prevalent? We investigate non-violent protests against a place-based economic reform in Austria—a country where one in two citizens uses Facebook but also one in...

Why do public policies change little over time in individual places, sometimes for centuries? We investigate different mechanisms for policy persistence. Several city mayors serving in democratic Weimar Germany were expelled by the Nazis in 1933, but re-installed by the Allies after World War...

Does social capital always promote solidarity and democracy, or are social networks such as sports clubs also vulnerable to populism? We exploit quasi-experimental variation in sports club membership in German cities. Sports clubs are booming in cities with successful soccer teams which pass the...

Can public infrastructure help regions to mitigate large shocks? We examine how hospital infrastructure contributes to regional resilience in the event of serious health emergencies. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, four out of every 1,000 Germans died. We find lower influenza mortality...

We examine whether local inconsistencies in the counting of votes influence voting behavior. We exploit the case of the second ballot of the 2016 presidential election in Austria. The ballot needed to be repeated because postal votes were counted carelessly in individual electoral districts...

Spatial inequalities in publicly provided goods such as health care facilities have substantial socio-economic effects. Little is known, however, as to why publicly provided goods diverge among urban and rural regions. We exploit narrow parliamentary majorities in German states between 1950 and...