Although regulatory agencies have been created all over the world in the past decade, their design may vary considerably. In this report, we offer more insight into the variation in design by presenting the findings of a worldwide survey among regulators in seven policy areas: competition,...

Given past and continued liberalization of the economy, interest has grown in politicians’ efforts to re-regulate previously liberalized sectors through creation independent regulatory agencies (IRAs). One key theoretical interest is the degree of independence of these IRAs. In this article,...

The announcement of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine success on 9 November 2020 led to a global stock market surge. But how did the general public respond to such good news? We report results of a nation-wide natural experiment in the US and the UK on how the vaccine news influenced...

Do crises make people more prosocial? And what role does communication play in promoting such attitudes and behavior? These answers matter for post-crisis economic recovery as social capital has been linked to growth. We leverage the incidence of COVID-19 --a multifaceted global crisis-- and...

Recent studies have found considerable partisan polarization of both reality and policy preferences in the US. Furthermore, this polarization is so entrenched that it is immune to the provision of factual information. Has the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects citizens unequally, reproduced or...

This paper investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the de facto shift of legislative decision-making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas, and the subsequent adoption of legislation at first reading. Since its formal introduction in 1999, “fast-track...

One of the most important developments in the history of the EU's codecision procedure has been the steep rise in “early agreements” since 1999, and the shift of legislative decision-making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas. As part of a wider research project on “The...

This study focuses on the use of trilogues and early agreements in the European Union (EU). Today, trilogues form the standard operating procedure for reaching agreements between the European Commission, European Parliament, and the Council of the EU. The use of trilogues has long raised...

This study focuses on the use of trilogues and early agreements in the European Union (EU). Today, trilogues form the standard operating procedure for reaching agreements between the European Commission, European Parliament, and the Council of the EU. The use of trilogues has long raised...