New publication just out at @cpsjournal.bsky.social: using household panel data from Germany, I show that residential moves are associated with declines in local-level engagement but have no effect on national-level engagement.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

... but strongly predict local-level engagement: respondents with stronger local attachments are relatively more engaged in local vs. national politics.

We use original surveys from the United States and Germany to study attachments to respondents' place of residence. These local attachments are different from local identities, are equally strong in rural and urban areas, are largely uncorrelated with objective measures of place quality...

New article with @elizabethelder.bsky.social out in @polbehavior.bsky.social. We develop a concept and measure of place attachments that is distinct from place identity.

doi.org/10.1007/s111...

I exploit an emigration wave from socialist East Germany in 1984 and link it to criminal activity. While some forms of crime declined, politically motivated crimes, especially regarding the border, skyrocketed. Petition data suggest that this effect is linked to increased demand for emigration.

Out today in @poppublicsphere.bsky.social

Emigration from closed autocracies is often thought to serve as a safety valve and improve stability. I show that it can also backfire and create more demand for emigration, thus raising popular pressure on the regime.

doi.org/10.1017/S153...

In a nutshell: the AfD fares better in places that experience more domestic out-migration. This relationship is particularly strong in East Germany, but noticeable in both parts of the country.

About 214,000* Germans living abroad had registered to vote** in yesterday's election. Because this was a snap election with a compressed timeline, many voters didn't receive their absentee ballots in time.*** I'm one of them: mine arrived today. The day after the election.

A priming experiment embedded in an original survey demonstrates that East Germans respond more strongly to qualitatively similar experiences with economic insecurity than West Germans: democracy satisfaction declines more among East than West Germans.

Excited to share my new publication, which just came out in
World Politics. The paper argues that authoritarian *breakdown* and the circumstances surrounding democratization can have long-lasting consequences for democratic expectations and attitudes. muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...