Research

 
My main research areas are public policy and comparative and international political economy. That is, I am interested in how political structures shape patterns of economic governance (with a particular focus on labour markets) and how economic interests shape public policies, especially in a context of internationalization of markets. I have three main research agendas within this broader framework.

European Integration, Party Politics and Corporatist Policymaking,
 
In my dissertation, I analysed the impact of European integration on patterns of cooperation between employers, trade unions and the state in labour market policies in Austria, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. More precisely, this research consisted in comparative case studies of patterns of corporatist governance in a strongly Europeanised policy domain (the regulation of labour mobility) and in a weakly Europeanised policy domain (welfare reforms) to assess if European integration strengthens or weakens corporatist governance. For this project I carried out fieldwork and about 40 interviews in these 3 countries. A paper drawn from this project has been accepted by Governance and I am currently working on a book due to appear with Amsterdam University Press in 2012.


European Integration, Labour Mobility and Coordinated Capitalism

Besides the main topic of my PhD, I am interested in the impact of the free movement of labour and services in the EU on coordination arrangements that are typical of Coordinated Market Economies. My research in this domain explores the domestic regulatory responses to labour mobility in the EU by focusing on interest group politics and on politicisation strategies by trade unions. I notably show how cross class coalitions in this domain can emerge, and how trade unions can overcome unfavourable power relationships by resorting to electoral concerns of governments.
 
Welfare, Employment and Inequality

Finally, I am interested in the comparative analysis of labour market arrangements, welfare and varieties of capitalism. This has notably resulted in collaborative work comparing institutional arrangements in the fields of corporate governance, industrial relations and the welfare state in Switzerland and Austria (with André Mach) and a comparison of determinants of labour market performance in Switzerland and the Netherlands, two countries that were able to reconcile high employment levels, low taxation and moderate levels of income inequality (with Jelle Visser).