Ongoing research projects
Ongoing research projects
The project examines how political parties in Western democracies politicize the issue of health. For a long time, health was seen as a non-partisan "valence issue", but it is increasingly debated along both economic and cultural conflict lines – for example, in the context of identity politics or environmental issues. The aim is to clarify (1) to what extent parties politicize health, (2) whether this politicization aligns with voter preferences, and (3) whether it contributes to polarization. Methodologically, the project combines content analyses of over 2,600 election manifestos from 25 countries since the 1960s with survey data and experiments in four countries. It provides new insights into ideological conflict lines and the polarization of health policy.
SNSF-funded project, grant no. 10.003.941, CHF 861’304, 2025-2029
with Victoria Haerter (postdoc) and Louisa Cakir (PhD student)
This project examines health policy preferences of individuals in high-income countries in a context of rising health care costs. Based on surveys in Switzerland, Canada, Denmark and Germany in 2024, we use observational and experimental data to analyse when citizens prioritise health care over other social policy areas, support cost containment measures, prefer public health investments over curative care, and support efforts to reduce health inequalities.
Health care as social investment? Public opinion on trade-offs between curative and preventive care in four OECD countries (published in Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law)
Responding to Growing Health Care Costs: Public Preferences in Four OECD Countries (published in SSM - Health Systems)
Retrenchment and Deservingness: Preferences for Healthcare Cost-Sharing across Four Democracies (under review)
The absence of intergenerational conflicts in health care preferences (work in progress)
Causal Attributions and the Politics of Health Inequality: Public Support for Policies to Reduce Health Inequality in Four OECD Countries (work in progress)
with Sharon Baute, Marius Busemeyer and Olivier Jacques
The Handbook on Social Policy and Inequality, under contract with the publisher Edward Elgar, provides an interdisciplinary analysis of inequality in contemporary societies by integrating sociology, social policy, and political science. It addresses major axes of inequality – class, gender, race and ethnicity, disability, and geography – and key outcomes including income, education, health, housing, and social mobility. Each chapter examines what a given inequality is, how policy can address it, and why political action succeeds or fails. Focusing mainly on Europe and other high-income countries, the handbook links structural conditions, policy responses, and political dynamics to explain how inequalities are produced, sustained, and potentially reduced.
with Marii Paskov (University of Bristol)
This project explores how inflation can shift electoral politics to the right by activating status threat rather than only economic dissatisfaction. It argues that rising prices constrain discretionary consumption and reduce saving capacity, which together heighten status anxiety, especially among middle-class voters. These pressures can make right-wing parties more attractive because they oppose redistribution and offer narratives that address perceived status decline. The study tests the argument with a Swiss natural experiment using a regression discontinuity design around the highly salient 2023 announcement of sharp health-insurance premium increases, and assesses broader European patterns with survey data linked to monthly inflation indicators.
with Sarah Engler
This project uses combines novel firm-level and employee-level surveys in Denmark to study how AI adoption at the workplace shapes risk perceptions and policy preferences among managers and workers. It moves beyond traditional automation concerns to examine how AI exposure creates both job-related (egotropic) and societal (sociotropic) risks. We then explore how these AI-based risks translate into political preferences, not only support for compensation, but also regulation, social investment and retraining. A first paper on Danish firm managers' AI risk perceptions and policy preferences has been published in Social Policy & Administration.
with Kees van Kersbergen and Leon Küstermann
Health Systems in Transition (HiT) - Switzerland (with Stefan Boes, Stéfanie Monod, Luca Crivelli, Carlo de Pietro, and Sarah Mantwill)
Hospital Closures and Local Voting Behaviour (with Ronja Stahl)
Income Decline and the Political Backlash Against Advanced Welfare States (with Olivier Jacques and Tim Vlandas, revise & resubmit)
Post Democracy: The Long-Run Political Consequences of Public Service Deprivation (with Rahel Freiburghaus, Sarah Engler and Victoria Haerter)
The dynamics of financial insecurity and voting for the populist right and left in Europe (with Lorenza Antonucci and Roberta Di Stefano)
Perceived Inequality, Social Connection, and Mental Health (with Andrew Gloster)
Population Participation in Health Policy Decision-Making: Perspectives of the Population and Stakeholders in Switzerland (with Nelly Sénac)