Benjamin Blumenthal
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bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
Benjamin Blumenthal
@bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
460 followers 210 following 150 posts
now: ETH | next: ECARES (ULB) | PhD PSE | game theory & political economy | accountability, lobbying, etc. | minions enthusiast

site: https://sites.google.com/view/benjaminblumenthal/
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bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
Benjamin Blumenthal @bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social · Sep 15
My paper "Voter Information and Distributive Politics" has been accepted for publication at the AEJ: Micro 🥳 Ungated version here: osf.io/preprints/so...
Voter Information and Distributive Politics Benjamin Blumenthal Abstract Does more information benefit voters? I examine this question in a novel setting of distributive politics and electoral accountability. Homogeneously-informed electorates can benefit from less information through improvements in the control or screening of politicians. For heterogeneously-informed electorates, I show that the distribution of resources and voter welfare is affected by the nature of informational heterogeneity and by voters’ ability to communicate with each other. When communication is impossible, less-informed voters can be better off than more-informed voters.
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
carloprato.bsky.social
Call for Submissions: Democratic Resilience and the Politics of Belonging

Columbia, June 4-5, 2026

Co-Organizers: @aalrababah.bsky.social (Bocconi), @gemmadipoppa.bsky.social (Columbia), Shigeo Hirano (Columbia), @ginvernizzi.bsky.social (Bocconi)

Submit: lnkd.in/eiPgt_w5

Details ⬇️
November 7, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
ginvernizzi.bsky.social
Please share!

Call for papers in the formal theory section at EPSS 2026 @epssnet.bsky.social.

Call for papers is open: epssnet.org/belfast-2026...

We welcome individual and panel submissions on all substantive areas of political science!
Call for Papers | EPSS Belfast 2026 Conference
Submit your abstract or full paper for EPSS Belfast 2026. Share cutting‑edge political science research, network with peers & contribute to academic impact.
epssnet.org
October 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
🤓
September 17, 2025 at 1:58 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
My paper "Voter Information and Distributive Politics" has been accepted for publication at the AEJ: Micro 🥳 Ungated version here: osf.io/preprints/so...
Voter Information and Distributive Politics Benjamin Blumenthal Abstract Does more information benefit voters? I examine this question in a novel setting of distributive politics and electoral accountability. Homogeneously-informed electorates can benefit from less information through improvements in the control or screening of politicians. For heterogeneously-informed electorates, I show that the distribution of resources and voter welfare is affected by the nature of informational heterogeneity and by voters’ ability to communicate with each other. When communication is impossible, less-informed voters can be better off than more-informed voters.
September 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
icotrombetta.bsky.social
🚨Davide Cipullo, Tommaso Colussi, Domenico Rossignoli and I are excited to open the call for the 2nd UniCatt Political Economy workshop! We have 2 great keynotes: Alessandra Casella and David Yanagizawa-Drott. Send us your papers (theory or empirics) and let us meet in Milano on December 18.
August 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
henrymance.ft.com
FT Editorial: "Unless the Israeli government agrees to an immediate end to the war and a surge of aid into Gaza, western countries should be sanctioning Netanyahu and his government." www.ft.com/content/69d5...
July 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
ianrturner.bsky.social
🚨 New paper with Jie Ma and @keithschnak.bsky.social: Democratic Accountability with Citizen Coproduction

As always: read it, cite it, love it!

Link: osf.io/preprints/os...
July 15, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
nber.org
A survey of advances in modeling cultural transmission in economics and how these models differ conceptually from those employed in evolutionary anthropology, from @albertobisin.bsky.social and Thierry Verdier https://www.nber.org/papers/w33928
June 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
clpennec.bsky.social
This recent EJ Virtual Issue on Accountability and Electoral Selection features my (not-so-recent) JMP. A great opportunity to revisit an old thread!
resmedia.bsky.social Royal Economic Society @resmedia.bsky.social · Jun 16
📢 EJ Virtual Issue: Accountability and Electoral Selection is now live. Free to read for a limited time! 🗳️

Featuring 11 key papers + intro by Editor Amanda Friedenberg, this issue explores the challenges of holding politicians accountable in democratic systems.
🔗 bit.ly/4n4Ca56

#EconSky
June 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
pierrecboyer.bsky.social
Great workshop on Democracy at @ethz.ch in collaboration with the @cepr.org. Food for thoughts with a view!
@bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social @bartonelee2.bsky.social
May 27, 2025 at 8:54 AM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
The latest econ scandal is another opportunity for non-econ people to smugly assert that econ is not, in fact, a rigorous endeavour; that it's merely about repeating what others have said; or giving ideological arguments a veneer of rigour. I suppose it's good to see that some things don’t change.
May 18, 2025 at 12:49 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
The abandonment of all moral principles in the pursuit of a good publication should lead us to reflect much more deeply on how the discipline functions, rather than focusing excessively on an individual's failings.
May 17, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
jeeanews.bsky.social
Forthcoming article by Charles Louis-Sidois "Both Judge and Party? Investigating the Political Unbiasedness of Fact-checkers" @eeanews.bsky.social

Teaching materials available: www.eeassoc.org/teaching-mat...

doi.org/10.1093/jeea...
April 16, 2025 at 5:37 AM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
Hilarious to see Macron once again trying to pretend that working conditions for researchers in France have not (further) worsened under his presidency. Europe -- and France in particular -- should get their act together on research rather than launch glossy but empty schemes.
Here in France, research is a priority, innovation is a culture, and science is a boundless horizon. Researchers from around the world, choose France, choose Europe! See you on May 5. → http://choosefrance.fr/forscience
April 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
clpennec.bsky.social
Call for papers! The second edition of the Transatlantic Political Economy Conference (T-PEC) will be held in London on Nov 6-7, 2025. Organized by @nicolasajz.bsky.social, Cevat Aksoy and myself.

The submission deadline is July 4. Apply here (and share widely):

sites.google.com/view/tpec-mo...
April 16, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
garlicksauce.bsky.social
Are lobbyists influential? The public sure thinks so, but applied political science since lobbying registration data emerged (late 90s) struggled to produce evidence that it does. In new review @wmjunk.bsky.social @heathbrown.bsky.social and I chart a wave of research showing that lobbying matters.
How Lobbying Matters | Annual Reviews
For decades, political scientists have struggled to provide empirical evidence that lobbying influences policymaking. A considerable gap arose between widespread public suspicions of lobbying and the ...
www.annualreviews.org
April 14, 2025 at 8:33 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
among the best interactions I’ve had in an interview: a *game theorist* asking me whether we do not already have *too many* models, before asking me about the possibility of designing *new* mechanism design/voting procedures for political inefficiencies.
March 24, 2025 at 6:02 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
Policymaking under Influence is now online (doi.org/10.1093/jleo...) at the Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization! 🙂
Policymaking under Influence
Abstract. Policymaking is an arduous process and politicians often fail to change the status quo despite their best efforts. I introduce the notion of infl
doi.org
March 24, 2025 at 9:31 AM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
r&r 🥳
March 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
ianrturner.bsky.social
Dark Money and Politician Learning (w/ @keithschnak.bsky.social) now online at @thejop.bsky.social:

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Dark Money and Politician Learning | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
March 13, 2025 at 5:44 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
It is very funny to see various European countries talking about schemes to attract US researchers to Europe, when the situation for so many academics on the Old Continent is so bad.
March 9, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Blumenthal
tinepaulsen.bsky.social
🚨 Deadline in two weeks 🚨
pauvallprat.bsky.social Pau Vall-Prat @pauvallprat.bsky.social · Dec 13
📢 Submit your work to the Junior Workshop on HPE organized by @tinepaulsen.bsky.social, @franvillamil.bsky.social & myself.
📍 UC3M Madrid
🗓️ June 25, 2025 (just before EPSA)
📝 Deadline: Feb 21, 2025
🔗 Apply: forms.gle/F5zPJRWn6gr4...
ℹ️ More info: www.pauvallprat.com/hpe-workshop
#HPE #EPSA2025
February 7, 2025 at 6:40 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
Some implications of the model for the empirical literature on environmental politics:

(1) Voters can use policy outcomes to determine which policies they want to see implemented in the future *and* which politicians they trust to do so.
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social Benjamin Blumenthal @bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social · Jan 31
I've just posted a revised version of "Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning" (osf.io/preprints/so...). Comments welcome! 🤗
Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning Abstract I study environmental policymaking when policy choices signal politicians' policy preferences and policy outcomes provide information about policies' appropriateness. I show that when favourable policy outcomes lead voters to want policy persistence, reelection-seeking politicians seek to appear likely to implement the voters' preferred policy for the future, which need not be their ex-ante preferred one. Political inefficiencies arise whenever the ex-ante preferred policy is sufficiently likely to become unpopular after its implementation and policy learning is valuable enough.
February 6, 2025 at 12:23 PM
bnjmnblmnthl.bsky.social
I've just posted a revised version of "Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning" (osf.io/preprints/so...). Comments welcome! 🤗
Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning Abstract I study environmental policymaking when policy choices signal politicians' policy preferences and policy outcomes provide information about policies' appropriateness. I show that when favourable policy outcomes lead voters to want policy persistence, reelection-seeking politicians seek to appear likely to implement the voters' preferred policy for the future, which need not be their ex-ante preferred one. Political inefficiencies arise whenever the ex-ante preferred policy is sufficiently likely to become unpopular after its implementation and policy learning is valuable enough.
January 31, 2025 at 10:30 AM