VALPOP project
Valuing Public Goods in a Populist World
A Comparative Analysis of Network Dynamics and Societal Outcomes
The VALPOP project investigates how the distribution of public goods is influenced by societal networks and their degree of populism. The aim is to raise awareness of their influence, increase the transparency of public goods governance and usage, and strengthen the control mechanisms.
News
Who is connected to whom? Teaching machines to map Europe’s political elites
VALPOP article in ArXiv, 2026 Whether a country’s [...]
VALPOP at AIB 2026
VALPOP had a strong presence at this year's Academy of International Business conference
Which policy changes would increase firms’ and civil society’s contribution to public goods?
Insights from the Business Case Challenge 2026 and VALPOP Roundtables
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Societal networks, populism & public goods
Societal networks are structures of social actors such as politicians, media, businesses and non-governmental organisations that lead to certain behavioural patterns, influences, and dynamics which affect the distribution of public goods.
In particular, VALPOP looks at the degree of populism within these networks and the establishment of an ingroup (us) and outgroup (them) rhetoric which interferes with the creation and distribution of public goods, which should be equally available to everybody.
Examples of public goods are education, public infrastructure, a clean environment, free press & access to information and predictable governance.
