Peer-reviewed Publications

Disappointed Expectations: Downward Mobility & Electoral Change (with Thomas Kurer). American Political Science Review. FirstView.

In progress & under review

“Employment without mobility? Why social investment policies fail immigrants”

“Upward mobility, gender, and progressive politics” (with Delia Zollinger), Revise and resubmit

“The politics of status preservation in the knowledge economy class”

“Working together or drifting apart? Workplace segregation and political polarization” (with Valentina Consiglio)

“The arc of postwar capitalism and ethnic inequalities in the UK, Germany and Finland”

“Ethnicity and endogeneity in the welfare state” (with Emily Wolff)

Dissertation book project: Ethnic Inequality in the Welfare State

My dissertation book project aims to reconcile the persistence of ethnic inequalities in expansive welfare state regimes. I argue that, in response to changes in labor demand and patterns of job polarization that have followed the transition to a knowledge economy, social investment policies have been reoriented to promote immigrant and minority employment rather than expand equality of opportunity. I draw on panel surveys, administrative data, interviews, and archival documents to show how policy interventions in Finland, Germany, and the UK invest in sector-specific and linguistic skills at the cost of expanding minority access to the socio-cultural resources that are critical for upward mobility in the knowledge economy, including valuable social networks and strong interactive skills. Finally, I argue that while this approach to policy design is in part a response to job polarization and service labor shortages, it is also the product of a political context wherein policymakers are incentivized to prioritize voter preferences and majority access to opportunities over immigrant and minority needs.