The post-doctoral researcher will be part of the project “The Micro-foundations of Debt Crises” hosted at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University. The project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Dr. Matthew DiGiuseppe. The post-doc will work closely with the PI to field surveys and survey experiments, collect observational data, write research papers and help in the mentorship of the project’s PhD students.

This project takes a bottom-up approach to understanding the political roots of government debt crises. It proposes that in order to understand why governments borrow excessively and experience crises, we must first understand what citizens are thinking (or not thinking) about debt policy. Citizens’ preferences are the cornerstone of political theories because they inform policymakers’ incentives. Yet, no studies have systematically examined why citizens in some countries are willing to take steps before a crisis to reduce government debt while others ignore warnings and reward political inaction.

This project pursues two successive objectives. First, the project will conduct the first comprehensive analysis of individual-level preferences for debt reduction before a crisis. It will develop and test multiple hypotheses that seek to explain which elements of society are (un)supportive of debt reduction policies, what rational or irrational factors motivate their decisions, and how stable these preferences are to manipulation by elites. The analysis centers around original and innovative multi-country survey experiments that elicit the character and stability of preferences for debt reduction. The project’s second phase uses these insights to connect the micro to the macro. By understanding which groups of citizens are motivated by which material factors or cognitive biases, we will develop new theories explaining how the distribution of these groups, and their interaction with institutions, influence political decisions and ultimately affect the risk of sovereign debt crises.

Key responsibilities
The post-doctoral researcher will be part of the project “The Micro-foundations of Debt Crises” hosted at the Institute of Political Science at Leiden University. The project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and led by Dr. Matthew DiGiuseppe. The Post-doc will work closely with the PI to field surveys and survey experiments, collect observational data, write research papers and help in the mentorship of the project’s PhD students.

• A PhD in political science or in a relevant discipline, or be near completing one;
• Very strong background in quantitative methods. Experience with survey design and survey experiments is preferable but not necessary;
• Substantive interest in the political economy of sovereign debt, international/comparative political economy, public opinion or political behavior;
• Excellent command of English. Italian, Portuguese, or Japanese language skills are a plus.

We offer a fixed-term position of 3 years. The position preferably starts on 1 August 2020. Salary range from €3,637.- to €4,978.- gross per month on a full-time basis (pay scale 11, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. 

Leiden University

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences comprises four institutes: education and child studies, political science, psychology and cultural anthropology & development sociology. The faculty also includes the Centre for Science and Technology Studies. The faculty is home to 5,000 students and 600 members of staff. Our teaching and research programmes cover diverse topics varying from adoption to political behaviour.

The Institute of Political Science has a strong research tradition in various areas of comparative, Dutch and international politics, as well as political theory. The Institute has around 80 academic staff, including many non-Dutch scholars, and houses a number of editorships of international refereed journals and book series. Members of the institute are also involved in a number of the university’s multi-disciplinary research centres, including Central and East European Studies, International Relations, Political Parties and Representation, and Political Philosophy. The Institute is based in Leiden but a large and growing part of the teaching is done nearby in The Hague.