Es gibt in Deutschland bisher wenige Erhebungen dazu, wie Politiker:innen wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse für ihre Arbeit nutzen. Um diese Kenntnislücke zu füllen, hat die Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina eine Erhebung beauftragt, die sich an die Mitglieder des Deutschen...

Es gibt in Deutschland bisher wenige Erhebungen dazu, wie Politiker:innen wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse für ihre Arbeit nutzen. Um diese Kenntnislücke zu füllen, hat die Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina eine Erhebung beauftragt, die sich an die Mitglieder des Deutschen...

We study the extent to which personal connections among legislators influence abstentions in the U.S. Congress. Our analysis is conducted by observing representatives' abstention for the universe of roll call votes held on bills in the 109th-113th Congresses. Our results show that a legislator's...

In this paper, we propose a new approach to the estimation of social networks and we apply it to the estimation of productivity spillovers in the U.S. Congress. Social networks such as the social connections among lawmakers are not generally directly observed, they can be recovered only using...

In most countries Parliamentary immunity protects lawmakers from civil or criminal charges while in office, and it shields them from prosecution for their political speech or political actions. This paper presents the first empirical analysis in the literature of the impact of Parliamentary...

Using data from a unique survey of members of parliaments in France, Germany and Italy in 2018, we estimate the effects of three dimensions on EU and euro area fiscal reform preferences: nationality, political ideology, and populism. We predict and confirm that a German populist party on the...

The importance of user-generated content is growing as media consumption is moving online; yet, investigations of media bias on user-generated content platforms are rare. We develop a novel procedure to detect coverage bias – i.e., bias in the amount of coverage certain topics or issues receive...

The last three decades have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of states with spilt Senate delegations, featuring two senators of different parties. In addition, there is evidence that senators of different parties do not cluster in the middle: they are genuinely polarized. We propose a...

We link future members of Congress to the de-anonymized 1940 census to offer a uniquely detailed analysis of how economically unrepresentative American politicians were in the 20th century, and why. Future members under the age of 18 in 1940 grew up in households with parents who earned more...

Using data from a unique survey of members of parliaments in France, Germany and Italy in 2018, we estimate the effects of three dimensions on EU and euro area fiscal reform preferences: nationality, political ideology, and populism. We predict and confirm that a German populist party on the...

Der Deutsche Bundestag umfasst gegenwärtig 709 Abgeordnete. In keiner Legislaturperiode zuvor waren es so viele. Schließlich liegt die Sollstärke bei 598 Abgeordneten – 299 direkt gewählte Abgeordnete aus den Wahl­kreisen und ebenso 299 Abgeordnete, die über die Liste ins Parlament...

We link future members of Congress to the de-anonymized 1940 census to offer a uniquely detailed analysis of how economically unrepresentative American politicians were in the 20th century, and why. Future members under the age of 18 in 1940 grew up in households with parents who earned more...

Are ordinary citizens or political party leaders better positioned to select candidates? While the American primary system lets citizens choose, most democracies rely instead on party officials to appoint or nominate candidates. The consequences of these distinct design choices are unclear:...

Are ordinary citizens or political party leaders better positioned to select candidates? While the American primary system lets citizens choose, most democracies rely instead on party officials to appoint or nominate candidates. The consequences of these distinct design choices are unclear:...

This paper presents the first empirical analysis of the impact of Parliamentary immunity on the behavior and performance of politicians. Leveraging a Constitutional Amendment, the adoption of which lifted the immunity of 132 of the 550 members of the Turkish Parliament, we find that losing...

Aktuell stehen Gesellschaft und Politik vor grossen Aufgaben wie Klimakatastrophe, demografischer Wandel und soziale Ungleichheit: Wenn der Einfluss der Wirtschaft auf politische Entscheidungsprozesse in Bundestag und Ministerien nicht radikal begrenzt wird, sind diese Zukunftsfragen nicht zu lösen

Which voting weights ought to be allocated to single delegates of differently sized groups from a democratic fairness perspective? We operationalize the ‘one person, one vote’ principle by demanding every individual’s influence on collective decisions to be equal a priori. The analysis...

The role of national parliaments in EU matters has become an important subject in the debate over the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. Yet despite a remarkable increase in parliamentary involvement in EU affairs, the added value in terms of democratic legitimacy will remain limited...

Werden Bundestagsabgeordnete von ihren Parteien abgestraft, wenn sie in namentlichen Abstimmungen im Bundestag nicht mit ihrer Partei stimmen? Betrachtet wurden alle 218 namentlichen Abstimmungen in der Legislaturperiode 2009–2013 für 257 über die Liste in den Bundestag eingezogene...