Research
My research uses empirical methods to study how democratic institutions—parliaments, referendums, and citizen initiatives—aggregate and represent voter preferences. I am particularly interested in the role of gender in legislative representation and in the interaction between direct and representative democracy.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Substantive Representation of Women: Empirical Evidence British Journal of Political Science 55(e32), 2025 We identify women’s revealed preferences for legislative proposals to investigate substantive representation of women. We then examine whether female or male politicians in parliament are more responsive to revealed female preferences using data on 47,527 decisions made by all 777 Swiss parliamentarians between 1996 and 2022. Holding party and constituent preferences constant, our results show differences in the substantive representation of women between female and male politicians for legislative proposals related to social policies. For all policies unrelated to social issues, we find that female politicians are no more responsive to female preferences than male politicians. Heterogeneity analyses show that differences in the substantive representation of women by male and female politicians on social policy issues do not depend on the socialization of the politicians, or the underlying political incentives and constraints. DOI
Congruence of Female and Male Legislators With the Preferences of Women and Men Economics Letters 242: 111854, 2024 We leverage the institutional framework in Switzerland to discern the revealed preferences of female and male voters for various legislative proposals. We examine whether female or male legislators’ votes in parliament are more congruent with women’s or men’s revealed preferences for identical legislative proposals. Our analysis of 47,527 matches between legislators and their voters reveals no significant difference in how closely female and male legislators match the preferences of women and men, particularly, when accounting for party affiliations. We conclude that female legislators do not demonstrate higher congruence with women’s preferences than their male counterparts in parliament. DOI
Working Papers
Representation, Party Discipline, and the Condorcet Jury Theorem Revise & resubmit · 2026 How does district magnitude affect the quality of political representation? We examine a mechanism derived from the Condorcet Jury Theorem (CJT), which predicts that larger legislative delegations more accurately reflect the preferences of their constituents when legislators vote independently. However, nominal seat counts often overstate the number of independent decision-makers because party discipline causes legislators’ votes to be correlated. We introduce effective district magnitude as a measure that more accurately captures the number of independent politicians within a constituency. Using 263 Swiss referenda (1992–2024) matched to parliamentary decisions, we provide evidence in line with the CJT: the probability that a majority of a delegation reflects the preferences of its constituents increases with (effective) district magnitude. The CJT aggregation mechanism closely predicts delegation-constituency congruence only for effective, not nominal, district magnitude. These results provide empirical evidence that the CJT applies to representative democracies and highlight how party discipline constrains the representative benefits of larger district magnitudes. Working Paper
Decision-Makers as Decision-Shapers: Evidence on the Influence of Representatives on Direct Democratic Votes Working paper · 2026 This paper estimates whether elected representatives causally shape citizens’ decisions in direct democratic votes. We study Swiss referenda, where voters decide on the same policy proposals that legislators previously vote on in parliament, allowing a direct comparison between representatives’ positions and citizens’ binding policy choices. Using close elections between candidates with opposing positions on a given issue, we implement a regression discontinuity design that generates quasi-random variation in the issue positions of elected representatives. Having an issue supporter instead of an issue opponent as a representative increases the electorate’s share of yes votes by about 8.7 percentage points. The effect is strongest where alternative information is scarce, suggesting that representatives shape voter choices partly by providing cues on complex policies. The results imply that even in institutions designed to let citizens overrule politicians, representatives remain an important force in preference formation and policy choice. Working Paper
The (Ir-)Relevance of Demographic Characteristics for Substantive Representation Working paper · 2026 This paper examines how descriptive representation (numerical representation of demographic characteristics) relates to substantive representation (representation of preferences). Leveraging Switzerland’s unique institutional setting, we assess whether voters’ preferences are represented differently by legislators who share their demographic characteristics compared to legislators with opposing characteristics. We identify and compare voter preferences across gender, age, education, income, and place of residence for 270 popular votes held between 1992 and 2025 and link them to 54,792 parliamentary decisions made by 927 legislators on the same proposals. We document substantial variation in the descriptive representation of voter groups but little variation in how well their preferences are substantively represented. Legislators represent voters who share their demographic characteristics better than legislators with opposing characteristics, particularly once legislators’ political orientation is taken into account. These results persist even in settings where weak incentives to cater to the median voter would allow legislators to favor their demographic peers and in votes where preferences diverge strongly across voter groups. Overall, the evidence indicates that shared political orientation, rather than shared demographic characteristics, predicts substantive representation. Working Paper
Book Chapter
Zukunftstauglicher Föderalismus: Wie ihn die Globalisierung fordert, fördert und formt In Intergouvernementale Beziehungen in Föderalen Systemen: Die Rolle von Regierungskonferenzen im Schweizerischen Föderalismus, eds. A. Stöckli & L. A. Maiorini. Bern: Stämpfli Verlag, 2024. PDF
Policy & Public Writing
Repräsentieren weibliche oder männliche Politiker Fraueninteressen besser? Wirtschaftliche Freiheit, 15 October 2024 PDF
Wie sind die Geschlechter im Parlament vertreten? persönlich, 23 February 2024 PDF
Schaffhausens innerkantonaler Finanzausgleich: Herausforderungen, Probleme, Perspektiven Report for the Government of the Canton of Schaffhausen, 2024
Keine Parteisoldaten in den Bundesrat: Die Bundesversammlung muss wieder selbst entscheiden Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 11 December 2023 PDF
Grand Prix der Demokratie Die Weltwoche, 7 December 2023 PDF
Wiedergewählt sind die Bürgernahen Nebelspalter, 27 November 2023 PDF