In my dissertation, I developed a theory of education systems, which linked the structure of education systems to labor market outcomes. I also examined the role of education systems in shaping firm-level support for active labor market policies. Two chapters of my dissertation are currently under review and I am finishing corrections on the manuscript for publication as a book.

I have also already begun expanding on the findings of my dissertation and will present a paper that builds on my dissertation at two conferences in April.

With my supervisor Anke Hassel at the Hertie School of Governance, I am also examining the capacity of employer-based training systems to adjust to a post-industrial economy.

Active Labor Market Policy

With my advisor, Professor John D. Stephens, and former fellow graduate student, Professor Jingjing Huo, I am working on a book project that looks more closely at the relationship between Social Democratic parties and activation policies. This research has already resulted in a publication in the Journal of European Social Policy on the partisan effect of different labor market policies as well as a conference paper on women’s employment.

I have also written a methodological paper on the preferences of trade union members towards active labor market policies that is forthcoming in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research.

Women’s Employment

With John D. Stephens, I have written a paper on the effect of social policy on women’s employment that we presented at a conference in May 2008. The paper is being submitted for publication in a book along with other papers from the conference.

Retrenchment and Political Parties

I am also working on a joint paper with Nathalie Giger at the University of Berne that examines how the electoral costs of retrenching social policy vary among political parties. We are currently revising a version of the paper that we presented at the Conference of Europeanists in Chicago in March 2008.

European Integration and Political Parties

During my graduate coursework, I had the opportunity to work with a research team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that examined political parties’ positions towards European integration. This research resulted in a publication in Comparative Political Studies.

Future Plans

In the future, I am interested in examining the role of institutions in mediating political contestation, including the way in which founding decisions over the structure of labor market regulation and social policy shape the long-term trajectory of these institutions and associated political, social, and economic outcomes. For instance, I am interested in understanding the nature of immigrant access to healthcare and social assistance in Europe with particular attention to the group of intra-European immigrants, the effect of European law on national responses to this issue, and the role of political parties in shaping national policy reforms.

Also related to the welfare state literature, but touching on a range of other substantive issues, is the question of how governments and other actors in the policy-making arena attempt to build legitimacy for their preferred reforms. In the welfare state literature, governments are frequently described as trying to avoid blame for painful reforms (as contrasted with its logical pair of accepting credit for generous reforms). I am interested in cataloguing the techniques that actors use to build legitimacy on the one hand and developing theoretical understandings of how the use of these techniques influences the development of the reform process and subsequent outcomes on the other.