Political Economy and Social Policy

Our working group seeks to promote the study of political economy -- broadly understood as the study of who gets what, when and how -- in Switzerland and beyond. Specifically, we promote scholarship that investigates power relations surrounding the distribution of scarce economic resources and the mitigation of economic risks. By doing so, we focus on economic and social policies to examine issues such as why voters and political actors support or oppose specific policies, which determinants (political, economic, institutional) are linked to different economic policy outcomes, the political and economic effects of policies and institutions, and processes of convergence and divergence. We approach these issues from different theoretical and methodological perspectives in order to broaden our understanding of how different political economies evolve in historical and comparative perspective. Core topics include (but are not limited to) the study of welfare states, redistribution, industrial relations and labor markets, as well as taxation, skill formation systems, corporate governance, inequality, and interest groups in particular trade unions, employer organizations, and firms.

To foster scholarly dialogue and collaborations, we organize a number of panels at the Annual Congress of the Swiss Political Science Association, which usually takes place in early February. Every three years or so we co-sponsor panels in the framework of the Dreiländertagung (Trilateral Conference of the Austrian, German and Swiss Political Science Associations), the last of which took place at the ETH Zurich in February 2019. In addition, we maintain a mailing-list to circulate relevant calls for papers and job announcements. If you are interested in receiving our news, simply contact one of the WG Heads.”