There's a global race to secure EV battery gigafactories & reduce reliance on China.

But not all clean-tech projects are created equal. Some generate good jobs & domestic capacities, others produce ecological harm & low value-added enclaves.

New paper & thread 👇
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Industry 4.0 Inc. structure

(5) How does Industry 4.0 Inc. relate to the former Germany Inc.?

While in Germany Inc., industrial firms were fully embedded as both acquirers and targets in cross-shareholdings, Industry 4.0 Inc. emanates from industrial firms’ role solely as investors. The result are indirect intersections.

Congrats, Palma! Looking forward to reading the paper :)

(4) We find that German industry shifted its M&A activities toward minority holdings in the digital technology sector. These transactions give rise to Industry 4.0 Inc. which encourages inter-firm coordination.

(3) We construct a novel dataset of 2,483 M&A deals by 38 firms in the 2000-2021 period. We analyze this data via descriptive statistics and network visualization. Finally, we provide four vignettes of alliances that illustrate how M&A allows to address the dual challenge.

(2) We identify the development of digital technologies and corresponding skills as a dual challenge for industry incumbents. M&A allows firms to overcome this dual challenge. Persisting coordination in the German political economy then leads to a novel structure emerging.

Screenshot of paper abstract

🤖 First publication alert 🤖

Germany Inc. is dead? Long live Industry 4.0 Inc.!

Michael Schwan, Christine Trampusch and I uncover that overlapping M&A of German industry create a new coordination enabling structure: Industry 4.0 Inc.

@compchange.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Regine Paul Joins MPIfG Regine Paul, a political scientist and professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, is joining the MPIfG in the middle of April to take up a position as head of a new research group. Technology and ...

We are very happy to welcome political scientist Regine Paul to the MPIfG as of today!

Paul joins the Institute as head of the new research group “Technology and Statehood,” which will explore competition statehood in global tech races and their social and political implications. s.gwdg.de/BWmRAN

🍾🥂

Our new article on the limits of green concertation with @lucacigna.bsky.social is out in New Political Economy (in open access - thanks to @mpifg.bsky.social🙏)

@k-papanikolaou.bsky.social @megkingleo.bsky.social

Just wrapping up the first day of the Fourth Doctoral Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy co-organized with fantastic colleagues at the @mpifg.bsky.social. Many great presentations and papers from diverse perspectives.

📢 Call: Lise Meitner Research Groups

@maxplanck.de invites applications for the Lise Meitner Excellence Program, which recruits outstanding early-career researchers to lead independent research groups.

The MPIfG welcomes applications aligned with its research program.

Please share widely!

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out

I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy.
www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

The next conference of the DVPW Section Political Economy takes place 24–25 Sept 2026 at Freie Universität Berlin.

Contributions in English and German are welcome. Please send us your paper or panel proposal by next Friday, 27 Feb 2026.

All info in our Call for Papers: www.dvpw.de/fileadmin/us...

Great news that you managed to publish this so quickly!

Seminal contribution theorizing important firm-level developments in the digital economy

Friendly reminder: Only 4 days left to submit your abstracts for the 4th Doctoral Conference of the IMPRS-SPCE at @mpifg.bsky.social

more information can be found here: www.mpifg.de/1432364/2026...

We look forward to receive your submissions!

Fantastic opportunity for PhD students working in the fields of political economy and economic sociology to receive valuable feedback and connect to other researchers in their field.

Organized by the wonderful PhD students of the @mpifg.bsky.social

Send them your abstracts!

🤗🤗🤗

📢 Job alert! Interesse an einer Promotion im Bereich Internationale und Vergleichende Politische Ökonomie? Lust auf Forschung und Lehre zu bspw. #Geoökonomie #Klimapolitik #Finanzmärkte #Industriepolitik #EuropäischeIntegration oder mehr?

Weitere Infos: www.uni-osnabrueck.de/universitaet...

Fourth Doctoral Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy The Fourth Doctoral Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy aims at building bridges and finding commonalities among young scholars whose research is addressing the complex ...

*Call for Applications*

We’re excited to announce the Fourth Doctoral Conference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy!

Abstract Deadline: December 1, 2025

Link to the conference website: www.mpifg.de/1432364/2026...

Please share widely!
@mpifg.bsky.social

Call for abstracts for the Fourth Doctoral Cpnference on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy

#cfp: Happy to share that the next Doctoral Conference at the @mpifg.bsky.social will be taking place in March 2026.

Particularly relevant for PhD students from political economy/economic sociology and neighbouring disciplines. 🤗

When: 19.-20.03.2026

More information: www.mpifg.de/1432364/2026...

Warum klingen Songs zunehmend gleich?
Mit einem Mix aus Politischer Ökonomie und Kulturkritik der Frankfurter Schule sind Niklas Kullick @mpifg.bsky.social und @johannespetry.bsky.social dieser Frage nachgegangen.

@oliverbweber.bsky.social dazu in der @faznet.bsky.social

shorturl.at/QC3RO

🚨New Article Out! “The Scottish Road to Net Zero: Corporate Welfare and Assetization Cascades”

The article focuses on the evolution of the land-based natural capital market in Scotland in light of the country's net zero efforts.

Between X and Y: how process tracing contributes to opening the black box of causality This article maps the methodological debate on process tracing and discusses the diverse variants of process tracing in order to highlight the commonalities beyond diversity and disagreements. Toda...

Maybe this is an interesting read for the process tracing session?

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

In the age of asset manager capitalism, do asset owners still matter? And what does this mean for the green transition?

@nataschavanderzwan.bsky.social and I investigate this through an in-depth study of how some of the most important asset owners - pension funds - invest.

Now out in SER!

🧵

Family feelings: affective ties and the reproduction of wealth in super-rich families Rising wealth inequalities, concentrated in the hands of a few super-rich families, have recently sparked sociological interest in how these families sustain and legitimise their wealth across generat...

My first paper of my dissertation 'Patrimonial Relations. Kinship, capital and conflict in super-rich Families' is out now on open access!

Here I discuss how super-rich families use relational work on affective family ties as an economic resource.

@bupjournals.bsky.social

Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy The Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy aims to establish a network of women working in political economy and to contribute to ameliorating existing gendered inequalities in the fi...

The Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy aims to address the continued underrepresentation of women in political economy. Join us!

📅 Cologne, September 22–25, 2025
👩‍🎓 For current PhD students or recent PhD graduates – free of charge
⏳ Apply by April 25, 2025

The christmas elf is hiding in the corner