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
Panel session on accountability and transparency in firm-state interactions
VALPOP session at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM) 2026
Not all populists treat foreign firms alike: What regime characteristics reveal about investment under populism
Article in Journal of International Business Studies, 2026 [...]
Who is connected to whom? Teaching machines to map Europe’s political elites
VALPOP article in ArXiv, 2026 Whether a country’s [...]
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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, healthcare, free press & access to information and predictable governance. See how we define public goods.
