New paper with Alexander Patzina (@patzinaalex.bsky.social) out now in @actasociologica.bsky.social! We investigate the connection between wages and institutional trust in Germany between 2019 and 2023 1/n

We recently did B): The DV was most important for us and we expected that the measurement of variables related to the mechanism could prime individuals and hence affect the DV. We had a strong case for expecting that and hence also did not randomize the order. Otherwise rand. might be a valid option

Recently accepted by #QJE: “The Effects of Gender Integration on Men: Evidence from the U.S. Military,” by Greenberg, Wasserman, and Weber: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...

😀 Happy to share our new working paper with Andreas Stoller on cigarette prices, taxes, and smoking:
doi.org/10.48550/arX...
Using a flexible diff-in-diff approach with double machine learning and Eurobarometer data, we find that tax increases reduce smoking, particularly among the young.

🪚🐣Easter DIY project🐣🔧
I've refreshed the interface on my "car sales" webpage.
▸URL arguments
▸Translations
▸Faster operation
▸Easier multi-country selection
Check it out!
robbieandrew.github.io/carsales/?co...

This news has really shocked and saddened me. I held Leo in very high regard, both as a researcher and as a person. Thank you for sharing the obituary, Felix.

“His work will be remembered as precise, honest, and innovative.”

Isotype chart comparing CO₂ emissions across Austrian income deciles. Each icon represents 500 kg CO₂ per person per year. Rows of colored icons are grouped by consumption category — including mobility, housing, and services — for a selected lower income decile and the richest 10%. The richest decile shows substantially more icons across all categories. A second chart below displays total emissions per decile using chimney-shaped icons.

CO₂ footprint of Austrian households by income deciles. An isotype visualization inspired by Marie & Otto Neurath. Made together with @kalf.bsky.social.

🔗 data-science.wifo.ac.at/emissionen-u...

#DataViz #Isotype #CarbonFootprint #Inequality

Is this the correct doi?

The paradox of inequality that isn’t: rising economic inequality depresses and polarizes citizens’ belief in meritocracy Abstract. This study examines how rising income inequality has been impacting individuals’ belief in merit-based success, using three decades of survey dat

🔍 How does economic inequality impact beliefs in meritocracy?

Using comprehensive survey data from 39 advanced capitalist democracies over more than three decades, Markus Gangl & I examine how rising economic inequality has been shaping citizens' belief in meritocracy.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwag016

Screenshot of the Isotypify web editor showing two panels: on top, a grid of interactive controls including sliders for number of rows, figures per row, cell width, cell height, and glyph size, plus color pickers and text fields for two data rows labeled "Group A" (75% highlighted) and "Group B" (45% highlighted). Below the controls, the resulting isotype chart displays two rows of small human figure glyphs — the highlighted figures in green and orange respectively, the remainder in a light beige — arranged in a grid, with row labels and percentage annotations on the left.

ISOTYPIFY Your Data — I made an easy to use function + webinterface to create an ISOTYPE chart with Observable/Quarto/D3!

Webinterface: schmoigl.github.io/isotypify/
Observable: observablehq.com/@schmoigl/is...

#dataviz #observable #isotype #d3js

We have written a simple, plain-language, no equations & minimal jargon tutorial for experimentalists on why you can't drop people who don't take your treatments or follow your instructions.

with re-analyses & recommendations!

with @samanthajamesbrown.bsky.social

osf.io/preprints/ps...

#psych

Rethinking Gender and Other Seemingly Nonmanipulable Characteristics for Causal Analysis - KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie Identifying the causes of social inequality is crucial for designing effective policy interventions. Experimental methods, in which variables are manipulated and participants are randomly assigned to ...

📢 New publication!

Together with @dariatisch.bsky.social, I’m happy to share our new article bringing gender into a key methodological debate on how to answer causal questions.

🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Example for the two staged unsupervised machine learning algorithm using point data as input. Backlayer maps depict Hamburg. The map shows neighborhoods in different sizes and forms, sometimes following administrative borders (black lines) sometimes not. Three differently colored neighborhood types are displayed, each representing a different social group of residents.

xample for the two staged unsupervised machine learning algorithm using 500x500m grid cells as input. Backlayer maps depict Hamburg. The map shows large neighborhoods in different sizes and forms, sometimes following administrative borders (black lines) sometimes not. Three differently colored neighborhood types are displayed, each representing a different social group of residents.

Looking for a measure of #neighborhoods, micro or macro #segregation?

I've got something for you!

My newly published paper in Sociological Methods & Research presents a machine-learning-based algorithm to delineate neighborhoods with grid-cell or point data:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

While most people prefer equal inheritance, wealthy individuals are more willing to support unequal transfers when they help preserve wealth across generations ➡️ based on new experimental evidence now published with @natrinh.bsky.social and @dariatisch.bsky.social in @sfjournal.bsky.social

Problem about the loneliness epidemic is, it's everywhere except in representative survey data. Let's look at where the claim comes from. 1/

Genug ist genug Leipzig. Subjektiv. Selektiv.

Die Universität Leipzig setzt Kürzungen des eigenen Haushalts durch die Nichtverlängerung von laufenden Promotionsstellen um, meine ist auch betroffen. kreuzer-leipzig.de/2026/01/29/l...

Really happy to share that my PhD research has received a prize by the Landkreis Konstanz🏆

Big thanks to my supervisors, colleagues as well to @excinequality.bsky.social for providing such a great research environment.

📸 Foto: Universität Konstanz / Torben Nuding

An Audit of Social Science Survey Experiments Abstract. Survey experiments have become a popular methodology for causal inference across the social sciences. We study the efficacy of survey experiment

This is a belated post about our paper in @poqjournal.bsky.social.

We analyzed 100 survey experiments fielded by TESS (tessexperiments.org), using only information from the proposals to identify intended hypotheses.

Here are some of the things we learned:

An experimental study on institutions and social norms of tax payment Abstract. The production of public goods, which are fundamental to well-functioning societies, requires the payment of taxes, but taxpayers have clear ince

Thrilled that our findings, showing how social norms and institutions interact in Italy to shape tax reporting, are now out at:
academic.oup.com/esr/advance-...

@gianlucapasin.bsky.social @squazzoni.bsky.social

How does tax regressivity at the top affect public support for taxation? In this article, we run an information provision experiment in the United States with a quota-representative sample of around 4,000 people and randomly present respondents with factual information about total tax rates by income group. We find that informing respondents that the superrich pay lower total tax rates than other people not only increases support for raising taxes on the rich but also lowers support for taxing the middle class. Our results highlight an important hidden cost of tax regressivity at the top: if left unaddressed, it risks undermining public support for broad-based taxation.

New in @bjpols.bsky.social!

Dave Hope, @lhaffert.bsky.social and I show that low taxes on the rich have a hidden cost: They undermine public support for broad-based taxation. 🖋️ cup.org/45lgPwN

We now check manuscripts for the possibility that AI has been used to produce the paper. Springer's system does some automated checking but doesn't catch everything.

So, in certain situations we check the refs for hallucinations.

Latest manuscript: multiple hallucinations. Author will be banned.

Interesting paper in incentice effects, with nice descriptives like this one that shows that surveys are alive and kicking

new ESR article

Public or employer based childcare —which should governments prioritise?

@AnneKronberg #A_Gerlach find that policy should first expand public childcare, ease access for less-edu parents, and only then support employer-sponsored schemes
#OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcaf044

Für mich hat der link oben nicht funktioniert aber der hier: www.zew.de/das-zew/aktu...

True that. Mein personal favourite ist aber x und y im Streit um policy z. Und dann 2 Seiten ohne genaue infos worum es in der policy eigentlich gehen soll aber viel über wer wohl kontra und wer wohl pro ...

Survey experiments have become a popular methodology among social scientists. Has it been effective?

In POQ, Rauf et al. study the efficacy of 100 survey experiments. Their results show that a majority of hypotheses were not supported.

Read now: doi.org/10.1093/poq/...

INAS Conference 2026 - Nuffield College Oxford University

📢 Analytical sociology is coming home!

Call 4 INAS26 is open

🌍 1-3Jul26 @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social and @sociologyoxford.bsky.social (☔)

☢️ Deadline: 1Feb26

🦹 Organisers: @aksoyundan.bsky.social , @kasimirdederichs.bsky.social, D Kretschmer, @awaldendorf.bsky.social

Info: tinyurl.com/yc2tusjx

thanks for the info! always wondered how these results are bester interpreted