WORKING PAPERS
My research agenda currently focuses on two main topics: the political consequences of technological change and the experiences and preferences of political elites.
Technological change
"Automation versus openness: Support for policies to address job threats", R&R at the Journal of Public Policy
With Alexander Kuo, Pepe Fernández Albertos and Dulce Manzano
Does the threat of automation to workers' employment provoke distinct policy preferences from the threat of globalization? Despite a burgeoning set of studies of consequences of rapid automation in the workplace, there remain few studies that directly compare the impact of these structural threats on public policy preferences. We present hypotheses about how these different threats affect support for policies to prevent such shocks as well as policies to compensate via redistribution, with a focus on policies that address the most affected workers. Using a vignette experiment and a conjoint experiment embedded in survey evidence from Spain, we find that the threat of automation does not provoke any greater demand for redistribution than does openness. We do observe, however, an important difference: while the threat of offshoring does cause greater support for policies designed to prevent this process from happening, scenarios of robot substitution do not provoke a similar reaction
Draft available on request
Public Support for Digitalization-Related Policies
With Nicolas Bicchi and Alexander Kuo
What policies do individuals prefer in response to the labor market risks related to the ongoing processes of digitalization and automation? To what extent does being exposed to different forms of “technological risk” condition such preferences? In this paper, we advance existing research on this topic by distinguishing between among three main dimensions of technological risks (general concern about negative technological impacts, concern about tasks in one’s job being automated, and stress about learning new technology “technostress”), as well as and preferences for three types of policies related to these risks (compensation, retraining, and protectionist policies intended to slow down or prevent technological change). Using new survey evidence from Spain, we find little evidence that technological risks matter for preferences for compensation or retraining, but they do condition support for protectionist policies. We conclude with implications for politics in the current context of rapid digitalization.
Draft available on request
Political elites
"How do the Educated Govern?: Evidence from Spanish Municipalities", forthcoming in Unequal Democracies (Eds. Noam Lupu and Jonas Pontusson)
With Marta Curto
Appendix
Historical Family Types and Female Political Representation: Persistence and Change
With Dídac Queralt and Ana Tur-Prats
This paper argues that the way families were organized in premodern Europe exerts lasting consequences for women's political engagement. In stem families cohabitation with mothers-in-law allowed adult women to share responsibility for domestic production and engage in paid employment. In nuclear families newlyweds created new households, forcing wives to specialize in domestic production. To examine the longterm effects of unequal gendered division of labor, we combine historical census data with municipality-level election data from Spain between 1978 and 2015. Although historical family types vanished in the twentieth century, former stem-family regions show higher female labor force participation, more progressive gender attitudes, and higher female political representation. We also investigate the way voluntary party quotas counteracted political discrimination against women in regions formerly populated by nuclear families. By focusing on historical family structure, we uncover an original cause of female political underrepresentation in Europe and shed light on both historical persistence and change.
CURRENT FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
How technological change shapes politics: Voters, elections and policies (TECHNO) as PI of the Spanish team
Team: Henning Finseraas, Alex Kuo, Silja Häusermann, Thomas Kurer
Research grant NORFACE September 2020 - August 2023
Transforming European Work and Social Protection (TRANSEUROWORKS) as PI of the Spanish team
Awarded by the European Commission, H2020 program
November 2022 - October 2026
Citizen Attitudes toward Arti€cial Intelligence (CATAI) as PI
Awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
January 2023 - December 2026
My research agenda currently focuses on two main topics: the political consequences of technological change and the experiences and preferences of political elites.
Technological change
"Automation versus openness: Support for policies to address job threats", R&R at the Journal of Public Policy
With Alexander Kuo, Pepe Fernández Albertos and Dulce Manzano
Does the threat of automation to workers' employment provoke distinct policy preferences from the threat of globalization? Despite a burgeoning set of studies of consequences of rapid automation in the workplace, there remain few studies that directly compare the impact of these structural threats on public policy preferences. We present hypotheses about how these different threats affect support for policies to prevent such shocks as well as policies to compensate via redistribution, with a focus on policies that address the most affected workers. Using a vignette experiment and a conjoint experiment embedded in survey evidence from Spain, we find that the threat of automation does not provoke any greater demand for redistribution than does openness. We do observe, however, an important difference: while the threat of offshoring does cause greater support for policies designed to prevent this process from happening, scenarios of robot substitution do not provoke a similar reaction
Draft available on request
Public Support for Digitalization-Related Policies
With Nicolas Bicchi and Alexander Kuo
What policies do individuals prefer in response to the labor market risks related to the ongoing processes of digitalization and automation? To what extent does being exposed to different forms of “technological risk” condition such preferences? In this paper, we advance existing research on this topic by distinguishing between among three main dimensions of technological risks (general concern about negative technological impacts, concern about tasks in one’s job being automated, and stress about learning new technology “technostress”), as well as and preferences for three types of policies related to these risks (compensation, retraining, and protectionist policies intended to slow down or prevent technological change). Using new survey evidence from Spain, we find little evidence that technological risks matter for preferences for compensation or retraining, but they do condition support for protectionist policies. We conclude with implications for politics in the current context of rapid digitalization.
Draft available on request
Political elites
"How do the Educated Govern?: Evidence from Spanish Municipalities", forthcoming in Unequal Democracies (Eds. Noam Lupu and Jonas Pontusson)
With Marta Curto
Appendix
Historical Family Types and Female Political Representation: Persistence and Change
With Dídac Queralt and Ana Tur-Prats
This paper argues that the way families were organized in premodern Europe exerts lasting consequences for women's political engagement. In stem families cohabitation with mothers-in-law allowed adult women to share responsibility for domestic production and engage in paid employment. In nuclear families newlyweds created new households, forcing wives to specialize in domestic production. To examine the longterm effects of unequal gendered division of labor, we combine historical census data with municipality-level election data from Spain between 1978 and 2015. Although historical family types vanished in the twentieth century, former stem-family regions show higher female labor force participation, more progressive gender attitudes, and higher female political representation. We also investigate the way voluntary party quotas counteracted political discrimination against women in regions formerly populated by nuclear families. By focusing on historical family structure, we uncover an original cause of female political underrepresentation in Europe and shed light on both historical persistence and change.
CURRENT FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
How technological change shapes politics: Voters, elections and policies (TECHNO) as PI of the Spanish team
Team: Henning Finseraas, Alex Kuo, Silja Häusermann, Thomas Kurer
Research grant NORFACE September 2020 - August 2023
Transforming European Work and Social Protection (TRANSEUROWORKS) as PI of the Spanish team
Awarded by the European Commission, H2020 program
November 2022 - October 2026
Citizen Attitudes toward Arti€cial Intelligence (CATAI) as PI
Awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
January 2023 - December 2026
