Simon Hix

@simonhix.bsky.social

Stein Rokkan Chair in Comparative Politics, EUI. President of @epssnet.bsky.social. FBA, FRSA. Democracy, parties, elections, electoral systems etc. Live music. COYI

@anandmenon.bsky.social Oct 12, 2026, 8:45 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

Couldn't ask for a better start to the week than Matt Goodwin arguing we shouldn't rejoin the EU because it's become so right wing and populist.

@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:54 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment.

www.nber.org/papers/w35854

Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…

@guygrossman.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 4:23 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

🚨new working paper🚨

Chris Blair (@chriswblair.bsky.social), Jeremy Weinstein, and I describe here The Dataset of World Refugee and Asylum Policies, in which we code de jure asylum policy for 205 countries, from 1951-2022. We hope you will find the paper and data helpful. osf.io/preprints/so...

@simonhix.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 10:24 AM

A potential effect of the radical left taking over the Greens could be the centre left reuniting in Burnham’s Labour Party

@simonhix.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 10:21 AM

Interesting. Not surprising, though. Anyway, I suspect that this particular trade-off is not linear 😉

@chanret.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 8:25 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

"How voters evaluate the proportionality-concentration tradeoff" www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... <- people like proportionality less if you tell them there won't be a clear majority

@vkreilinger.bsky.social Oct 2, 2026, 12:25 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

The New Power Map of the European Parliament 👇

I very much look forward to this panel discussion with @simonhix.bsky.social, @abiralsahlani.bsky.social, @jonassjostedt.bsky.social, @gvonsydow.bsky.social in Stockholm’s Kulturhuset on Friday, 9 October.

Registration here: sieps.se/en/seminars/...

@alessandronai.bsky.social Sep 29, 2026, 1:15 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

You know those (rare) papers that really make you proud?

In new piece out at APR, we show that #AffectivePolarization likely spills onto other types of non-political polarization - notably, PREFERENCES FOR CATS VS. DOGS (aka “affective PAWlarization”)

paper: tinyurl.com/jn48bypp
data: osf.io/4p2zu

@britainelects.com Oct 1, 2026, 6:32 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

On rejoining the EU

Support: 55%
Oppose: 34%

... but on the conditions of single currency and Schengen membership

Support: 35%
Oppose: 43%

via YouGov, Jun 2026
britainelects.substack.com/p/is-rejoin-...

@simonhix.bsky.social Sep 27, 2026, 11:52 AM

Whether you like the third runway or not, this is further proof that that the UK is utterly useless at delivering on major infrastructure projects

@katie0martin.ft.com Sep 25, 2026, 10:42 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

@wepsocial.bsky.social Sep 25, 2026, 11:57 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

🧩 Do voters dislike parties that mix left and right positions?

In ten countries, @rdassonneville.bsky.social, Patrick Fournier & @zeynsom.bsky.social find voters know less about such parties and like them less, in part because of the inconsistency itself.

🔗 doi.org/10.1080/0140...

Description of the article "Voters' perceptions of ideologically inconsistent parties" by Ruth Dassonneville, Patrick Fournier and Zeynep Somer-Topcu, published online first in West European Politics.

Figure 2. Line chart of predicted party like/dislike ratings by how ideologically inconsistent a respondent perceives a party to be, with a histogram of observations underneath. Ratings fall markedly as perceived inconsistency rises.

Figure 3. Line chart of the effect of expert-rated ideological inconsistency on party like/dislike ratings, by how accurately a respondent perceives the party's positions, with a histogram of observations underneath. The effect is negative for respondents who place parties accurately, shrinks towards zero as their perceptions grow less accurate, and turns positive when they are far off.

@benghix.bsky.social Sep 23, 2026, 5:09 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

Very excited to announce a new Political Methodology Seminar Series co-hosted by the @lsegovernment.bsky.social, @lsemethodology.bsky.social and European Institute. This bi-weekly series is designed to support ECRs applying state-of-the-art methodological tools to political science research.

@bjpols.bsky.social Sep 18, 2026, 7:30 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

#OpenAccess from 2025 -

A Crisis of Political Trust? Global Trends in Institutional Trust from 1958 to 2019 - cup.org/4gCcLuT

- @viktorv.bsky.social, @drjennings.bsky.social, Gerry Stoker, @hannahbunting.bsky.social, @danjdevine.bsky.social,
@lawrencemckay.bsky.social & Andrew Klassen

#epop2026

@hetanshah.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 5:56 PMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

AI is screwing up journal papers:
Journal editor asks authors of 10 submitted papers to meet and discuss their paper. Of the 7 that showed up, 3 were unable to answer basic questions about the paper and 3 had difficulty when asked further questions on technical details…
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...

medium.comAsking Authors About Their Own PapersBy Nihar B. Shah

@simonhix.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 8:13 AM

Crowborough’s where I lived from 1968 until 1987, ie. birth to uni … formative years

@simonhix.bsky.social Sep 17, 2026, 8:09 AM

Oh god, I don’t think I can watch this! My home town :-(

@simonhix.bsky.social Sep 16, 2026, 10:24 AM

Thanks Zeth

@epssnet.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 7:04 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

📢 The Call for Papers for EPSS 2027 is open!

After a fantastic first conference in Belfast, we’re heading to Copenhagen 🇩🇰, 24–26 June 2027.

⏰ Deadline: 13 Nov 2026

👉 Call for papers: epssnet.org/2027-copenha...

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@institute-juanlinz.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 8:14 AMReposted by @simonhix.bsky.social

🚨 Madrid people, mark your calendars: the permanent seminar of the Instituto Juan Linz is back! We have a great series of speakers from across the social sciences this year. First talk this Friday with @llschenoni.bsky.social Here is the program for this Fall:

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