My research agenda currently focuses on technological change and Artificial Intelligence.
WORKING PAPERS
WORKING PAPERS
balancing progress and protection: Do Citizens Want Governments to Steer Technological Adoption?, With Alexander Kuo (revise & resubmit)
The rapid progression of the fourth industrial revolution has sparked debate about its economic impacts, and prompted calls for increased government ``steering" (through regulation or taxation) of technology adoption. This study proposes that preferences for such policies are shaped by two main considerations: the need to protect certain workers from technological disruption increases support for government steering, but the association of technology with economic growth and consumer benefits reduces such support. To test theories of such preferences, we design novel survey questions about six steering policies, measure preferences in large, representative samples from five European countries, and experimentally vary the claims presented. We also measure many technological risks, including job substitution by artificial intelligence (AI). We find substantial support for government steering of technology adoption through regulation and taxation, but claims that such intervention harms consumers or growth substantively diminishes such support, while arguments about protection enhance support only modestly.
Draft available on request
Draft available on request
Support for Digitalization acceleration: Evidence from EU’s Next Generation Program, With Alexander Kuo, Silja HÄusermann, and Reto BürgissER (revise & resubmit))
Post-industrial governments around the world are increasingly prioritizing policies to accelerate digitalization, but despite the growing literature on technological change and the knowledge economy, we have scant theory and data about public preferences regarding such policies. We use the case of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) program, aimed at expediting digitalization in Europe through nearly 800,000 million euros, as a substantively and theoretically important example to test rival theories about the political fault lines these policies may entail. We contrast expectations that follow from considering digitalization policies as a type of “knowledge economy” policy with those that view them as classical instances of state intervention and market correction. We test our hypotheses with new survey data from five EU countries (Germany, France, Sweden, Poland, and Italy) with detailed new measures on support for a wide suite of actual digitalization policies, expected economic impact, and perceptions of the main beneficiaries. Our findings suggest that these policies are most strongly supported by voters of mainstream parties and least favored by supporters of radical and populist parties. Preferences are structured more clearly along political lines than along socio-structural economic self-interests, implying that the emerging politics of digitalization policies may be mobilized along established ideological lines of party competition.
Building Global Support for AI Governance: Evidence from Six Countries, with Alexander Kuo and Shir Raviv (under review)
The rapid advancement of AI presents unprecedented challenges requiring international coordination, yet efforts to establish global governance frameworks remain fragmented. An important yet understudied factor shaping governments’ willingness to negotiate, approve, and enforce international agreements is domestic support. We examine how key institutional features of AI governance shape public support for international arrangements using new data from a large-scale survey experiment conducted in the US, China, India, Germany, the UK, and Japan. Our results indicate that citizens worldwide are willing to accept—and even prefer—inclusive, enforceable, and neutrally led regulations, suggesting that an ambitious global governance framework of AI could receive broad public support. The findings highlight governance mechanisms that generate global support and areas of cross-national disagreement that may require tailored approaches.
OTHER WORK IN PROGRESS
What if you see it? Workers' perceptions of and reactions to LLMs
With Massimo Anelli, Italo Colantone, and Piero Stanig
PAP available on request, data analysis in progress
Digital Skills Training and Political Integration: A Field Experiment with Public Employment Services in Catalonia
With Florencia Olivares
PAP available on request, data analysis in progress
AI and elections: Evidence from the US
With Brady Allardice and Thomas Kurer
Data collection in progress
Demand for AI Governance: The Role of AI Concerns, Costs of Regulation, and Industry Self-Governance
With Alexander Kuo and Shir Raviv
Draft in progress
CURRENT FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
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 Artificial Intelligence (CATAI) as PI
Awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
January 2023 - December 2026
What if you see it? Workers' perceptions of and reactions to LLMs
With Massimo Anelli, Italo Colantone, and Piero Stanig
PAP available on request, data analysis in progress
Digital Skills Training and Political Integration: A Field Experiment with Public Employment Services in Catalonia
With Florencia Olivares
PAP available on request, data analysis in progress
AI and elections: Evidence from the US
With Brady Allardice and Thomas Kurer
Data collection in progress
Demand for AI Governance: The Role of AI Concerns, Costs of Regulation, and Industry Self-Governance
With Alexander Kuo and Shir Raviv
Draft in progress
CURRENT FUNDED RESEARCH PROJECTS
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 Artificial Intelligence (CATAI) as PI
Awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
January 2023 - December 2026
