Our new piece, collectively authored by the Editorial Board of @econsocjournal.bsky.social, reflecting on the state today.

@campolis.bsky.social

Link to the full piece below:

Decline of Elite-Educated Republican Lawmakers Many posts have discussed the politics of colleges and universities in the United States.Volden C, W...

Another dimension of elite polarisation in Congress 🇺🇸

Exceptional Hatred A leading historian’s revelatory exploration of antisemitism in the United States—from 1940s anti-Jewish riots until today—showing that it has long ser...

I haven't read it so I can't speak to the final product, but Loeffler is an incredibly serious historian and human and was at UVA during Charlotsville so no doubt this will be an important contribution.

I can't wait to pick up my copy.

Delighted our paper (with an amazing group of co-authors) is forthcoming in the APSR

Takeaway for Labour and other centre-left parties: fixing public services is key to reducing support for the populist right

👇

The party of the rich just taxed the rich in WA. Can that hold? About 8 in 10 of the Washington residents who will have to pay the new millionaire's income tax live in Democratic districts. Legislators there say their rich constituents are fine with it.

Washington state passed a tax on millionaires. A lot of the usual suspects have been screaming & tearing their hair out & warning of apocalypse.

But the actual rich people of Washington? Turns out they are mostly Democrats & they mostly support it!

Keep Winning with WinRed? Online Fundraising Platform as the Party’s Public Good | The Journal of Politics: Vol 88, No 2 What determines the relative importance of extended party networks versus party leaders in parties’ campaign strategies? We synthesize theories of party organizations by highlighting the interplay bet...

Super happy to see this paper finally formatted.

While this paper might seem about political fundraising, it's really about the theory of *parties*: is it a broader network (UCLA school, i.e., Bawn et al. 2012) or elite/institutions-driven (re: Aldrich)?

doi.org/10.1086/735435

Jürgen Habermas, influential German philosopher, dies at 96 German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has died at age 96. Habermas' work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figur...

My work is indebted to his. End of an era.

The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering

The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory

How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism Moderation used to help Democrats win, but its advantages now have been greatly exaggerated.

This @bostonreview.bsky.social piece by @adambonica.bsky.social and @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social is an absolute must-read, as are many of the responses to it.

Spread this one far and wide.

The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls On the optimism of preparation in a time of democratic decay.

In a gloomy time, this is a fabulous piece by my (much younger) colleague, Adam Bonica--and more evidence why Stanford Poli. Sci. is the top-ranked department, bar none (though entre nous I also think those kinds of rankings are a tad goofy).

data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-wall-l...

Money Doesn't Buy Elections. It Does Something Worse. Campaign ads barely move the needle. The real influence is hiding in plain sight.

Study after study shows campaign ads barely move the needle. So where does money’s real power come from? I ranked the five ways money corrupts politics—from least to most corrosive. What I’ve learned from 15 years of tracking political money:

Zohran Mamdani’s victory was rooted in organizations that took up the base-building and mobilization functions that once fell to parties. dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

The New York Times’ “Moderation Advantage” Is a Statistical Illusion After accounting for money and incumbency the supposed electoral bonus for moderate candidates vanishes entirely.

NYT pushed its “Dems must go moderate” take again yesterday. In a new piece out today, @adambonica.bsky.social shows even more clearly why the data don’t support it. It also shows what a skilled empiricist and teacher Adam is.

Very proud of my pal’s public work.

open.substack.com/pub/data4dem...

Great paper that captures the main effect of US constitutional institutions: minority veto power.

"Most representational failures occur because Congress failed to pass a popular bill, rather than because it passed a bill that the public did not want."

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Old money: Campaign finance and gerontocracy in the United States"

By @adambonica.bsky.social & @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#econsky #publiceconomics

Data over dogma: A reply to Matt Yglesias Further thoughts and data on the declining electoral benefit to ideological moderation.

Excellent piece from @gelliottmorris.com explaining why Matt Yglesias' insistence on the importance of political moderation by Democratic candidates is so off-base.

The bottom line: The effect is small and uncertain, and it's *far* outweighed by other factors, like just being a good fundraiser!

Old money: Campaign finance and gerontocracy in the United States Politicians in the United States rank among the oldest globally. This study examines how money in politics contributes to age inequality in political …

@adambonica.bsky.social and I are economists now (economist salary coming soon, I imagine)

Ungated until the end of September: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Even as small donors flooded in, campaign finance inequality hit record highs in 2024. For the first time, the top 0.01% (1 in 10K voters) share exceeds 50% of $s. The top 400 donors now exceed 25%.

Citizens United opened the door, but soaring wealth inequality is what's driving these extremes.

Glad to share a symposium on my book "How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare" with SER: academic.oup.com/ser/advance-....

Featuring @alexandreafonso.bsky.social, @vapunkt.bsky.social, @ankehassel.bsky.social, @danielk24.bsky.social, @gscheiring.bsky.social, & rejoinder by myself 👇

The painting "La liberté" (c.1793-1794) by Nanine Vallain

1/2 Out now! "Independence, Globality, and the Battle of Ideas: A Dialogue on Liberty" by Quentin Skinner (@qmul.bsky.social) & @tomaashby.bsky.social (@utokyoofficial.bsky.social), a wide-ranging, scholarly, & full-length discussion article - the first at GIH! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Don't replace the Lords - split the Commons What an elected second chamber is for.

New blog post about Lords reform. How ideas about semi parliamentary systems can give a clear purpose to change alexparsons.co.uk/blog/posts/s...

Nothing left? In search of (a new) social democracy (Real) social democracy is not just unknown to several generations of voters, but it is contradictory to their individualist or ethnicized worldview. So far the analyses and prospects do not look prom...

In 2013, I argued that social democracy must be reinvented outside of the current “social democratic” parties and the past decade has only strengthened my beliefs.

We need a Gramscian approach, which is neither opposed nor subservient to party politics!

Title of the convening with an image of a donkey superimposed over maps of Massachusetts and California

Really excited about this online convening May 19-20 to better understand the contemporary challenges and opportunities of Democratic governance in blue trifectas. Important for housing, climate, inflation, and so much more -- especially today! Register: t.co/Pm4bIJHn1O

Plutopopulism: Wealth and Trump’s Financial Base SEAN KATES, ERIC MANNING, TALI MENDELBERG and OMAR WASOW Comparative scholarship suggests authoritarian candidates often rely on backing from the wealthy. The wealthy are also said to play an important role in American campaign finance. Studies of Donald Trump, however, found that he drew significant support from white Americans with less education and privilege. We evaluate wealthy and non-wealthy Americans’ financial support for Trump, compared to other candidates, by constructing a comprehensive dataset of property values matched to contributions and voter files. We find Trump underperformed among wealthy Republican donors while mobilizing new non-wealthy donors. Trump also diversified the donorate, especially by education. That is, Trump built an unusual coalition of wealthy and non-wealthy donors. Our results support an alternative, “plutopopulist” model of Trump’s financial base.

Is America an oligarchy?

Bernie and AOC say yes, touring the country to “Fight Oligarchy.” Other Democratic leaders aren’t so sure.

With the debate heating up, I wanted to share a few insights from our recent paper on who’s funding American politics. 🧵 cup.org/4cfm0Az

To Counter Populism and Bolster Security, Europe Must Reinvest In Its Citizens Facing security threats and rising populism, Europe needs state investment in citizens, not austerity that fuelled discontent.

🗳️ Populism is a warning sign.

English local elections show it again: People feel abandoned & look scapegoats.

Drawing on own research & others, I argue 👇🏽

💡 To counter populism: We need to reinvest in citizens, e.g. housing, health & dignity.

Short 🧵

📖 www.socialeurope.eu/to-counter-p...

Designing economic policy that strengthens U.S. democracy and incorporates people’s lived experiences Why U.S. policymakers should approach economic policy with an eye to its downstream political effects on democracy and policy approaches.

We're in an age of surging right-wing populism here in the US and around the globe, threatening democracy and growth. Should policymakers care? And how should they respond? In an essay for @equitablegrowth.bsky.social, Shayna Strom and I answer these questions: equitablegrowth.org/designing-ec... 1/

Graphic for the Roosevelt Institute featuring text "Restoring Economic Democracy: Progressive Ideas for Stability and Prosperity" on a two-tone teal background.

NEW: Americans need a government that delivers stability and security—not chaos.

Our new essay collection brings together great minds to imagine how democracy can better deliver the economy Americans need and want. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Why philosophers hate that ‘equity’ meme If you want to annoy your favorite philosopher, one of the best ways to do it these days is to mention the “kids standing on boxes equity meme.” To call it the bane of our existence would be something...

An entertaining (and broadly correct) piece on "equality vs equity" from Joe Heath.

I may use this as a short intro reading next time I teach "luck egalitarianism versus relational egalitarianism".

(I don't think he's fair to relational egalitarianism towards the end, but ... that's unsurprising.)

Are lobbyists influential? The public sure thinks so, but applied political science since lobbying registration data emerged (late 90s) struggled to produce evidence that it does. In new review @wmjunk.bsky.social @heathbrown.bsky.social and I chart a wave of research showing that lobbying matters.