Barton Lee

We're hiring 2 postdocs at @uio.no on my ERC-Cog project on how authoritarian regimes shape scientific knowledge. 3–4 years, U. of Oslo. Deadline: 10 Sept 2026. Great dept., terms, well funded, bustling & green Scandi capital. Apply! 👉 jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/303060/postdoctoral-fello

In equilibrium, as this paper shows, de facto power tracks standard measures of market power, survives bans, taxes, and technocratic delegation, and can skew innovation toward regulation-resistant technologies. By @grattonecon.bsky.social & @bartonelee2.bsky.social at @ethz.ch buff.ly/fkYG29M

📆 Join us on May 27 at our economics research seminar with Barton Lee (@bartonelee2.bsky.social), who will present "Market power is power." Details and abstract: www.jku.at/institut-fue...

MARKET POWER IS POWER New working paper with @bartonelee2.bsky.social Thread below! 1/5 gratton.org/papers/Marke...

Great to see this finally on The Economic Journal site! “From Gridlock to Polarisation?” (with @bartonelee2.bsky.social and @marcjacob.bsky.social ). academic.oup.com/ej/article/d...

Check out this article by @grattonecon.bsky.social. It features his important work with @bartonelee2.bsky.social -- along with the contributions of Massimo Morelli, @trfetzer.com, @caroartc.bsky.social, and Laurenz Guenther. Most importantly, however, it www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/how-...

BusinessThink on our paper with @bartonelee2 and Hasin Yousaf, “Bad Democracy Traps” “Why we don’t trust politicians (and what this means for democracy)” www.businessthink.unsw.edu.au/articles/tru...

Fascinating paper by @grattonecon.bsky.social, @bartonelee2.bsky.social, and Hasin Yousaf! The paper addresses a fundamental question: Why do some democracies chronically avoid ambitious, long-term reforms even when they have decent institutions? They argue that what matters is not only

3. Delgado-Vega, Álvaro, and @bartonelee2.bsky.social. 2024. ‘When Growth Leads to Zero-Sum Conflict’. t.co/MjBZ9BUCI3

My three favourite papers on the political economy of zero-sum politics (aside from the well-known Chinoy et al. paper). 1. @snageebali.bsky.social, Maximilian Mihm, and Lucas Siga. 2025. ‘The Political Economy of Zero-Sum Thinking’. Econometrica 93(1): 41–70. t.co/LoCepP3L1L

🚨Announcing the 2025 Australian Political Economy Workshop (APEN 2025) 18 November, @unswecon.bsky.social ‪@lalthoff.bsky.social‬, @kathrynbaragwanath.bsky.social, P Bhattacharya, R Dahis, @anjaprummer.bsky.social , D Strömberg, L Welnner REGISTER AT sites.google.com/view/apenetw...

🚨 Applications to our PhD program starting January 2026 close on July 31 🗓️ Fully funded scholarship for a 1 year Master’s coursework + 3.5 year research in our School. A 🧵 on our PhD program and school. (1/7) Program and application info 👇 www.unsw.edu.au/business/stu...

Why is democracy so fragile—and autocracy so resilient? 📅June 23-24 Line-up: @bartonelee2.bsky.social @janeesberg.bsky.social @felixhaass.bsky.social @mattingly.bsky.social @monikanalepa.bsky.social @aspaglayan.bsky.social &+ ℹ️ www.iast.fr/conferences/...

Applications still open for the 2025 @ubeconomics.bsky.social on "The Political Economy of Immigration." ☀️ 30 June – 4 July, 2025 | Barcelona 📅 Deadline: June 15th Lecturers: @andreassteinmayr.net and @tsurovtseva.bsky.social. More info: www.ub.edu/school-econo... #EconSky #polisky

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

Good paper. Makes a lot of sense of recent political dynamics.

📌 Excited to announce the 2nd Northeast Political Economy Conference 📌 We (briangknight.bsky.social) are seeking submissions from economists & political scientists working on political economy topics. Please submit by June 16 and join us at Brown on Friday, Oct 3 forms.gle/i4wi88Q6P3tJ...

Stellar health economists who want to build a world-class lab in Zurich, see here 👉

Come join me in Zurich! We’re hiring a Professor of Health Economics (deadline April 30). DM me if you have any questions about our department, ETH 🏫, or Switzerland🇨🇭 ethz.ch/en/the-eth-z...

From the other platform: The myth that “education” will defeat populism and strengthen democracy is dangerous and is an internal threat to democratic resilience. We won’t save liberal democracy by placing ourselves on this pedestal of philosopher kings. Let me explain: 1/🧵👇

A lot has been written on the causes of polarization, but Avidit Acharya, Theo Serlin and I wanted to ask a different question: How Polarization *Ends* Paper link and 🧵 tinyurl.com/jp2pk4rt 1/10

#IEBSeminars: "From gridlock to polarization" 🗣️ @bartonelee2.bsky.social  (@ethzurich.bsky.social) 📅 Tuesday 18 ⏰ 2:30pm  Info👉 https://f.mtr.cool/cpsutleeti

"From gridlock to polarization" 🗣️ @bartonelee2.bsky.social (@@ethzurich.bsky.social) 📅 Tuesday 18 ⏰ 2:30pm  Info👉 https://s.mtrbio.com/faeucwbgcl #IEBSeminars (5/6)

📣Now hiring: Predoc in Economics and Data Science We are hiring a predoc -- work at ETH Zurich on exciting projects in applied econ (political econ, education, etc.), using AI, NLP, and causal inference. Apply here: econjobmarket.org/positions/11505

We’re happy to host the 1st European Economic Theory Conference in Bonn next fall! Submissions in all areas of economic theory are welcome.

Just published on APSR First View: "Vox Populi: Popular Support for the Popular Initiative" by Lucas Leemann (@LucasLeemann), Patrick Emmenegger, and André Walter. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Based on many useful comments, @grattonecon.bsky.social and I have updated the working paper over last couple of days. We now explicitly extend the model to account for the risk of democratic backsliding and explain the rationale behind our assumptions more clearly. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/60mq5...

their paper (short summary below) with @marcjacob.bsky.social on the relationship between gridlock and polarisation. www.promarket.org/2024/06/26/i...

Over the past few days, I have also been reminded of this paper by @grattonecon.bsky.social and @bartonelee2.bsky.social and, of course, ... gratton.org/papers/Drain...

Seems like a good time to read this beautiful paper! www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Immensely thought-provoking essay by @dacemoglumit.bsky.social! on.ft.com/3CU6rRD

What do “populist” voters want from their representatives? Why not ask them? Kevin Arceneaux reports populist voters want representatives to: 1. Listen less to experts and do less research! 2. Listen more to ordinary people!

I've just posted a revised version of "Environmental Policymaking with Political Learning" (osf.io/preprints/so...). Comments welcome! 🤗

This is as good a time as any to post a paper I've been working on with @LindseyGailmard: The Persistence and Fragility of Bureaucratic Capacity. We ask: what makes bureaucratic capacity persist, and what makes *threats* to bureaucratic capacity hard to reverse?

Yeees! 💫 The preliminary program for our Workshop on the Political Economy of Autocratic Rule & Democratic Backsliding (June 23-24, just before EPSA) at IAST/TSE is out. Pair your Madrid trip with a stop in Toulouse. Registration opens soon! Check out speakers here: www.iast.fr/conferences/...

Don’t miss out of this year’s SIOE 🏄🌊 deadline this week! 👇

Congratulations to Elias Dinas, Sergi Martinez, and Vicente Valentim, the recipients of the Joseph L Bernd JOP Best Paper Award for their paper “Social Norm Change, Political Symbols, and Expression of Stigmatized Preferences” at #SPSA2025!

Thank you @spsanews.bsky.social and the jury of the Joseph L Bernd award!

Applications are now open for the Master in Institutions and Political Economy at the University of Barcelona for the 2025–26 academic year. 👉 Program Website: www.ub.edu/mipe/

One thing I love about this paper is that it gives me the vocabulary to articulate a question that has been bugging me for a while: Does the increase in constraints on executive power and/or the growing influence of outside factors increase the incentives for feigning, and are there differences

Great blogpost by @bartonelee2.bsky.social on his new JOP paper! “A novel implication of my theory is that politicians may be harmed electorally by having records of being more effective legislators because it limits their ability to jop.blogs.uni-hamburg.de/politicians-...

We are hiring: 4-year post doc position at our department, open to all topics in political science. 75% research and 25% teaching, good salary, great department and colleagues, and a beautiful city. Deadline: February 15 www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

You want a brief summary of central arguments in the party competition and political economy of redistribution literatures? Then these slides of mine might be of interest. Also ideal for discussions with your family members during the festive season. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ptr1s...

As Trump readies to sue a pollster for a principled (but ultimately incorrect) poll, one wonders how long it'll be until he sues an economist who dares forecast anything other than four years of glory.

📢In this @thejop.bsky.social blog post, @bartonelee2.bsky.social argues that some politicians will “feign” support for policies that voters demand: proposing & publicly endorsing such policies but then exerting little effort toward their adoption. Why? Read⬇️ jop.blogs.uni-hamburg.de/politicians-...

On my way to the airport again. ✈️🌏✈️🌎✈️🌍 Touring “Bad Democracy Traps” with talks in Chicago (Harris), Turin (CCA) and Milan (Bocconi). LINK: www.gratton.org/papers/BadDe...

5. @grattonecon.bsky.social, and @bartonelee2.bsky.social. 2024. ‘Liberty, Security, and Accountability: The Rise and Fall of Illiberal Democracies’. The Review of Economic Studies 91(1): 340–71. academic.oup.com/restud/artic...