Research

When Strikes Meet Stocks: Organized Labor and the Politics of Employee Ownership

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) are typically framed as tools for improving worker welfare, but may also function as strategic responses to union pressure. Exploiting the staggered adoption of right-to-work laws as a shock to union strength, I find that weakening organized labor leads to a decline in active ESOPs—suggesting employee ownership is part of a broader political economy of labor-management conflict.

Are Fertility Responses Ideologically Driven? Evidence from Hungary's 2019 Family Protection Action Plan

Studies of pronatalist policy have largely emphasized economic explanations for uneven fertility responses, overlooking the role of political context. Using a municipality-level event study of Hungary's 2019 Family Protection Action Plan (FPAP), I find that pre-treatment ideological alignment with Fidesz predicts larger post-policy fertility increases, underscoring political framing as a key driver of demographic outcomes.

Stability Pays Dividends: Financial Market Exposure & Political Risk

This paper examines the impact of financial market exposure on partisan identification in the United Kingdom (1999–2020), finding that low levels of stock market participation increase alignment with the political right. However, I observe that greater financial market exposure shifts support toward incumbents through the proposed mechanisms of risk aversion and social buy-in, pointing to the political function of financial inclusion.