Lukas Haffert
Biographic Data
| ID | 389031 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lukas Haffert |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lukas |
| FAMILY NAME | Haffert |
| SIGNATURE | HAFFERT L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3594-0049 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 111 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The Hidden Cost of Tax Regressivity at the Top
How does tax regressivity at the top affect public support for taxation? In this article, we run an information provision experiment in the United States with a quota-representative sample of around 4,000 people and randomly present respondents with factual information about total tax rates by income group. We find that informing respondents that the superrich pay lower total tax rates than other people not only increases support for raising taxe…
How generational replacement feeds the urban-rural divide
Conflicts about ‘place’ are increasingly shaping the politics of advanced democracies, and voters are ever more divided along the urban-rural divide. However, this does not mean that members of all generations are growing apart. Instead, the urban-rural divide is stronger among younger generations, who are slowly replacing older, less divided ones. To demonstrate this, we combine post-election surveys from Switzerland spanning 28 years with macro…
Taxes on top incomes and financialisation
Financialisation is one of the most prominent economic developments of the past half century in the advanced democracies. While the existing literature focuses on financial deregulation and liberalisation as the key policy changes driving financialisation, this paper contends that tax policy also plays a crucial role. More specifically, we argue that cuts to taxes on top incomes disproportionately benefit the financial sector, as it pays unusuall…
Mehr oder weniger
Die sektorale Grundlage des Stadt-Land-Konflikts ist heute ein Gegensatz zwischen ländlicher Industrie und städtischem Dienstleistungssektor. Dieser Gegensatz übersetzt sich in zwei unterschiedliche Politikmodi: Eine Logik des Mehr, die Knappheitsprobleme durch zusätzliche Ressourcen überwinden will, und eine Logik des Weniger, die ihnen durch eine Beschränkung der Nachfrage begegnen will. Während die Politik des Mehr im 20. Jahrhundert in Stadt …
The universalist divide
Breaking with Orthodoxy? German Fiscal Policy in the Shadow of Covid-19
The Covid pandemic confronted the Merkel IV government with unprecedented fiscal challenges. We argue that the government's response to these challenges constitutes a break with established patterns of German fiscal policy orthodoxy in at least three areas. First, the government suspended the debt brake and gave up the 'Schwarze Null' without much debate. Second, it implemented a fiscal rescue package that struck a new balance between the interes…
Unequal Geographic Representation in a Mixed-Member Electoral System
This paper demonstrates a systematic geographic bias in the German mixed-member electoral system. This bias concerns the composition of the individual party groups, and, by extension, the composition of the parliament: The Bundestag is much more urban than it would be under equal geographic representation. The bias is caused by the distribution of list seats across districts: since parties have incentives to give the best list positions to candid…
When Group Appeals Backfire
Group-based identities are an important basis of political competition. Politicians consciously appeal to specific social groups, and these group-based appeals often improve the evaluation of parties and candidates. Studying place-based appeals, we advance the understanding of this strategy by distinguishing between dominant and subordinate social groups. Using two survey experiments in Germany and England, we show that group appeals improve cand…
Even in the best of both worlds, you can't have it all
Cohorts and neighbors
The 2021 German Federal Election saw an increasing variation in voting behavior between both age groups and geographic groups. This paper brings these developments together and argues that the urban-rural divide is much bigger among younger than among older voters. We combine data from the German Longitudinal Election Study with original survey data and introduce the number of freelance artists at the ZIP code level as a new measure of urbanity. …
Does fiscal pressure constrain policy responsiveness? Evidence from Germany
Political responsiveness is highly unequal along class lines, which has triggered a lively debate about potential causes of this political inequality. What has remained largely unexplored in this debate are the structural economic conditions under which policymakers operate. In this contribution, we hypothesize that budgetary pressures affect both the level and the equality of political responsiveness. Using a dataset containing public opinion da…
The Long-Term Effects of Oppression
Contemporary political behavior is often affected by historical legacies, but the specific mechanisms through which these legacies are transmitted are difficult to pin down. This paper argues that historical political conflicts can affect political behavior over several generations when they trigger an enduring organizational mobilization. It studies how the oppression of German Catholics in the nineteenth century led to a regionally differentiat…
Are governments paying a price for austerity? Fiscal consolidations reduce government approval
What are the political effects of fiscal consolidations? Theoretical considerations suggest that consolidations should reduce the public’s support for their governments, but empirical studies have found surprisingly small effects on government support. However, most of these studies analyze electoral outcomes, which are separated from the consolidation by a multi-link causal chain. We argue that more direct measures of government support, such as…
Between distribution and allocation
Comparative political economists typically analyze taxation as a matter of distribution. This article, by contrast, develops an allocational explanation of tax policy choices: as taxes channel resources into some economic activities and restrain others, they become subject to the allocational concerns of different sectors of the economy. We argue that sectoral coalitions straddling the class divide substantially influence the development of tax s…
Consumption Taxation in the European Economic Community
The literature on the comparative political economy of taxation often links consumption taxation to the welfare state. It argues that the expansion of consumption taxation paid for the expansion of welfare states and that bigger welfare states therefore tax consumption more heavily. We challenge this perspective by looking at the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the European Economic Community in 1967, the breakthrough of this form of…
Permanent budget surpluses as a fiscal regime
This article challenges the focus on budget deficits that permeates the literature on the comparative political economy of fiscal policy. It analyzes countries running budget surpluses and asks why some preserved these surpluses while others did not. Whereas several OECD members recorded surpluses for just a few years, balanced budgets became the norm in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden in the late 1990s. The article co…
From Austerity to Expansion? Consolidation, Budget Surpluses, and the Decline of Fiscal Capacity
In the wake of the financial crisis, many developed countries have embarked upon ambitious fiscal consolidation programs. While the success of austerity programs is still unclear, it is also an open question what success would mean for activist government in the long run. This study rejects the progressive belief that successful fiscal consolidation will strengthen fiscal capacity, arguing that consolidations transform the political context in wh…
From Austerity to Expansion? Consolidation, Budget Surpluses, and the Decline of Fiscal Capacity
In the wake of the financial crisis, many developed countries have embarked upon ambitious fiscal consolidation programs. While the success of austerity programs is still unclear, it is also an open question what success would mean for activist government in the long run. This study rejects the progressive belief that successful fiscal consolidation will strengthen fiscal capacity, arguing that consolidations transform the political context in wh…
Are governments paying a price for austerity? Fiscal consolidations reduce government approval
What are the political effects of fiscal consolidations? Theoretical considerations suggest that consolidations should reduce the public’s support for their governments, but empirical studies have found surprisingly small effects on government support. However, most of these studies analyze electoral outcomes, which are separated from the consolidation by a multi-link causal chain. We argue that more direct measures of government support, such as…
Permanent budget surpluses as a fiscal regime
This article challenges the focus on budget deficits that permeates the literature on the comparative political economy of fiscal policy. It analyzes countries running budget surpluses and asks why some preserved these surpluses while others did not. Whereas several OECD members recorded surpluses for just a few years, balanced budgets became the norm in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden in the late 1990s. The article co…
When Group Appeals Backfire
Group-based identities are an important basis of political competition. Politicians consciously appeal to specific social groups, and these group-based appeals often improve the evaluation of parties and candidates. Studying place-based appeals, we advance the understanding of this strategy by distinguishing between dominant and subordinate social groups. Using two survey experiments in Germany and England, we show that group appeals improve cand…
Between distribution and allocation
Comparative political economists typically analyze taxation as a matter of distribution. This article, by contrast, develops an allocational explanation of tax policy choices: as taxes channel resources into some economic activities and restrain others, they become subject to the allocational concerns of different sectors of the economy. We argue that sectoral coalitions straddling the class divide substantially influence the development of tax s…
Unequal Geographic Representation in a Mixed-Member Electoral System
This paper demonstrates a systematic geographic bias in the German mixed-member electoral system. This bias concerns the composition of the individual party groups, and, by extension, the composition of the parliament: The Bundestag is much more urban than it would be under equal geographic representation. The bias is caused by the distribution of list seats across districts: since parties have incentives to give the best list positions to candid…
Cohorts and neighbors
The 2021 German Federal Election saw an increasing variation in voting behavior between both age groups and geographic groups. This paper brings these developments together and argues that the urban-rural divide is much bigger among younger than among older voters. We combine data from the German Longitudinal Election Study with original survey data and introduce the number of freelance artists at the ZIP code level as a new measure of urbanity. …
Does fiscal pressure constrain policy responsiveness? Evidence from Germany
Political responsiveness is highly unequal along class lines, which has triggered a lively debate about potential causes of this political inequality. What has remained largely unexplored in this debate are the structural economic conditions under which policymakers operate. In this contribution, we hypothesize that budgetary pressures affect both the level and the equality of political responsiveness. Using a dataset containing public opinion da…
The Long-Term Effects of Oppression
Contemporary political behavior is often affected by historical legacies, but the specific mechanisms through which these legacies are transmitted are difficult to pin down. This paper argues that historical political conflicts can affect political behavior over several generations when they trigger an enduring organizational mobilization. It studies how the oppression of German Catholics in the nineteenth century led to a regionally differentiat…
Breaking with Orthodoxy? German Fiscal Policy in the Shadow of Covid-19
The Covid pandemic confronted the Merkel IV government with unprecedented fiscal challenges. We argue that the government's response to these challenges constitutes a break with established patterns of German fiscal policy orthodoxy in at least three areas. First, the government suspended the debt brake and gave up the 'Schwarze Null' without much debate. Second, it implemented a fiscal rescue package that struck a new balance between the interes…
Consumption Taxation in the European Economic Community
The literature on the comparative political economy of taxation often links consumption taxation to the welfare state. It argues that the expansion of consumption taxation paid for the expansion of welfare states and that bigger welfare states therefore tax consumption more heavily. We challenge this perspective by looking at the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the European Economic Community in 1967, the breakthrough of this form of…
Even in the best of both worlds, you can't have it all
The universalist divide
From Austerity to Expansion? Consolidation, Budget Surpluses, and the Decline of Fiscal Capacity
In the wake of the financial crisis, many developed countries have embarked upon ambitious fiscal consolidation programs. While the success of austerity programs is still unclear, it is also an open question what success would mean for activist government in the long run. This study rejects the progressive belief that successful fiscal consolidation will strengthen fiscal capacity, arguing that consolidations transform the political context in wh…
Permanent budget surpluses as a fiscal regime
This article challenges the focus on budget deficits that permeates the literature on the comparative political economy of fiscal policy. It analyzes countries running budget surpluses and asks why some preserved these surpluses while others did not. Whereas several OECD members recorded surpluses for just a few years, balanced budgets became the norm in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden in the late 1990s. The article co…
Consumption Taxation in the European Economic Community
The literature on the comparative political economy of taxation often links consumption taxation to the welfare state. It argues that the expansion of consumption taxation paid for the expansion of welfare states and that bigger welfare states therefore tax consumption more heavily. We challenge this perspective by looking at the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the European Economic Community in 1967, the breakthrough of this form of…
Are governments paying a price for austerity? Fiscal consolidations reduce government approval
What are the political effects of fiscal consolidations? Theoretical considerations suggest that consolidations should reduce the public’s support for their governments, but empirical studies have found surprisingly small effects on government support. However, most of these studies analyze electoral outcomes, which are separated from the consolidation by a multi-link causal chain. We argue that more direct measures of government support, such as…
Between distribution and allocation
Comparative political economists typically analyze taxation as a matter of distribution. This article, by contrast, develops an allocational explanation of tax policy choices: as taxes channel resources into some economic activities and restrain others, they become subject to the allocational concerns of different sectors of the economy. We argue that sectoral coalitions straddling the class divide substantially influence the development of tax s…
Does fiscal pressure constrain policy responsiveness? Evidence from Germany
Political responsiveness is highly unequal along class lines, which has triggered a lively debate about potential causes of this political inequality. What has remained largely unexplored in this debate are the structural economic conditions under which policymakers operate. In this contribution, we hypothesize that budgetary pressures affect both the level and the equality of political responsiveness. Using a dataset containing public opinion da…
The Long-Term Effects of Oppression
Contemporary political behavior is often affected by historical legacies, but the specific mechanisms through which these legacies are transmitted are difficult to pin down. This paper argues that historical political conflicts can affect political behavior over several generations when they trigger an enduring organizational mobilization. It studies how the oppression of German Catholics in the nineteenth century led to a regionally differentiat…
Cohorts and neighbors
The 2021 German Federal Election saw an increasing variation in voting behavior between both age groups and geographic groups. This paper brings these developments together and argues that the urban-rural divide is much bigger among younger than among older voters. We combine data from the German Longitudinal Election Study with original survey data and introduce the number of freelance artists at the ZIP code level as a new measure of urbanity. …
Breaking with Orthodoxy? German Fiscal Policy in the Shadow of Covid-19
The Covid pandemic confronted the Merkel IV government with unprecedented fiscal challenges. We argue that the government's response to these challenges constitutes a break with established patterns of German fiscal policy orthodoxy in at least three areas. First, the government suspended the debt brake and gave up the 'Schwarze Null' without much debate. Second, it implemented a fiscal rescue package that struck a new balance between the interes…
Unequal Geographic Representation in a Mixed-Member Electoral System
This paper demonstrates a systematic geographic bias in the German mixed-member electoral system. This bias concerns the composition of the individual party groups, and, by extension, the composition of the parliament: The Bundestag is much more urban than it would be under equal geographic representation. The bias is caused by the distribution of list seats across districts: since parties have incentives to give the best list positions to candid…
When Group Appeals Backfire
Group-based identities are an important basis of political competition. Politicians consciously appeal to specific social groups, and these group-based appeals often improve the evaluation of parties and candidates. Studying place-based appeals, we advance the understanding of this strategy by distinguishing between dominant and subordinate social groups. Using two survey experiments in Germany and England, we show that group appeals improve cand…
Even in the best of both worlds, you can't have it all
How generational replacement feeds the urban-rural divide
Conflicts about ‘place’ are increasingly shaping the politics of advanced democracies, and voters are ever more divided along the urban-rural divide. However, this does not mean that members of all generations are growing apart. Instead, the urban-rural divide is stronger among younger generations, who are slowly replacing older, less divided ones. To demonstrate this, we combine post-election surveys from Switzerland spanning 28 years with macro…
Taxes on top incomes and financialisation
Financialisation is one of the most prominent economic developments of the past half century in the advanced democracies. While the existing literature focuses on financial deregulation and liberalisation as the key policy changes driving financialisation, this paper contends that tax policy also plays a crucial role. More specifically, we argue that cuts to taxes on top incomes disproportionately benefit the financial sector, as it pays unusuall…
Mehr oder weniger
Die sektorale Grundlage des Stadt-Land-Konflikts ist heute ein Gegensatz zwischen ländlicher Industrie und städtischem Dienstleistungssektor. Dieser Gegensatz übersetzt sich in zwei unterschiedliche Politikmodi: Eine Logik des Mehr, die Knappheitsprobleme durch zusätzliche Ressourcen überwinden will, und eine Logik des Weniger, die ihnen durch eine Beschränkung der Nachfrage begegnen will. Während die Politik des Mehr im 20. Jahrhundert in Stadt …
The universalist divide
The Hidden Cost of Tax Regressivity at the Top
How does tax regressivity at the top affect public support for taxation? In this article, we run an information provision experiment in the United States with a quota-representative sample of around 4,000 people and randomly present respondents with factual information about total tax rates by income group. We find that informing respondents that the superrich pay lower total tax rates than other people not only increases support for raising taxe…
Economics (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Politics (10 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (8 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (6 works) · German (6 works) · Economic policy (5 works) · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy (5 works) · Fiscal policy (4 works) · Geography (4 works)