Hosts:
Gabriele Spilker – Professor of International Politics and Global Inequality and Co-Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz.

Marius R. Busemeyer – Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz.

Guest:
Helmut Rainer – Professor of Economics at LMU Munich and Director at the ifo Institute. His research covers labour, family and demographic economics, with a focus on gender, citizenship and ethnic inequality.

Episode Overview

How do early childcare and citizenship shape the opportunities of second-generation immigrants in Germany? In this conversation, our Hosts speak with Helmut Rainer about two major reforms from the late 1990s and early 2000s that expanded childcare access and introduced birthright citizenship. Both policies generated “natural experiments” that help identify their long-term effects on education, employment and integration.

Rainer shows how additional months in early childcare boost language skills and later labour-market outcomes, especially for children from non-German-speaking households. Birthright citizenship similarly raises educational attainment and reduces welfare dependence—at comparatively low fiscal cost. The episode also discusses cultural conflicts within immigrant families, gender-specific effects, and why some reforms trigger both empowerment and short-term psychological strain.

Episode Highlights

• Why second-generation immigrants matter
• Childcare expansion and language development
• Birthright citizenship as integration policy
• Gender and intergenerational tensions
• Policy implications

Links & Resources

• Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”: www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/inequality
• Further readings:
  • Dahl, B., Felfe, C., Frijters, P. Rainer, H. (2022): Caught between Cultures: Unintended Consequences of Improving Opportunity for Immigrant Girls. The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 89, Issue 5.
  • Felfe, C. et al. (2021): More opportunity, more cooperation? The behavioral effects of birthright citizenship on immigrant youth. Journal of Public Economics, Volume 200.
  • Felfe, C., Rainer, H., Saurer, J. (2020): Why Birthright Citizenship Matters for Immigrant Children: Short- and Long-Run Impacts on Educational Integration. Journal of Labor Economics, 2020, vol. 38, no. 1.

Contact: cluster.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

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Host:
Marius R. Busemeyer – Professor für Vergleichende Politische Ökonomie an der Universität Konstanz und Sprecher des Exzellenzclusters „The Politics of Inequality“.

Gäste:
Gabriele Spilker – Professorin für Globale Ungleichheit und Co-Sprecherin des Exzellenclusters „The Politics of Inequality“ an der Universität Konstanz. In ihrer Forschung beschäftigt sie sich mit internationaler Kooperation in Umwelt- und Handelsfragen und den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels für Länder im Globalen Süden.

Viktoria Jansesberger – Postdoktorandin am Exzellenzcluster „The Politics of Inequality“. Sie forscht zu Protesten, Umwelt- und Klimapolitik im Globalen Süden sowie zur sozialen Dimension internationaler Kooperation.

Episodenüberblick

Wie hängen Klimawandel und Ungleichheit zusammen – und warum trifft die Krise nicht alle gleich? In dieser Folge spricht Marius R. Busemeyer mit Gabriele Spilker und Viktoria Jansesberger über die sozialen und politischen Dimensionen des Klimawandels.

Von Generationengerechtigkeit bis globale Verantwortung: Der Klimawandel verstärkt bestehende Ungleichheiten zwischen Arm und Reich, Nord und Süd. Während reiche Industriestaaten historisch die größten Emissionen verursacht haben, leiden vor allem Länder des globalen Südens unter den Folgen – von Überschwemmungen über Dürren bis hin zu Existenzverlusten.

Episoden-Highlights

• Klimawandel als Ungleichheitsproblem
• Internationale Klimapolitik und Gerechtigkeit
• Klimafinanzierung und Fairness
• Proteste und Wahrnehmungen im globalen Süden
• Politische Lösungswege

Links & Quellen

· Mehr zum Exzellenzcluster „The Politics of Inequality“: www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/inequality

· Weiterführende Informationen und Publikationen:

o Bottner, F., Jansesberger, V., Ohndorf, M. et al. (2025): What the new loss and damage fund needs for public approval: choice experimental evidence from Austria. Climatic Change 178, 9.

o Jansesberger, V. (2024): Sudden weather disasters as triggers for ethnic protest in autocracies? Political Geography Volume 113, August 2024, 103163.

o Strauch, R., Jansesberger, V., Koos, S., Spilker, G. (2024): Voices of Change in the Global South : Understanding the Dynamics of Environmental Protest. Working Paper Series, Cluster of Excellence „The Politics of Inequality, No. 37.

Mehr über den Exzellenzcluster „The Politics of Inequality“.

Kontakt: cluster.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

Neue Folgen immer am ersten Mittwoch im Monat – jetzt abonnieren!

Hosts:

· Marius R. Busemeyer – Professor of Comparative Political Economy at the University of Konstanz and Speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”.

· Gabriele Spilker – Professor of International Politics – Global Inequality at the University of Konstanz and Co-Speaker of the Cluster.

Guest:
Gabriela Lotta is a professor of Public Administration and Government at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo. She coordinates the Bureaucracy Studies Center, is professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP), and researcher at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM). She has advised and trained several Brazilian governments. Her research focuses on public policy, bureaucracy, implementation, and inequalities in public administration.

Episode overview:

In this episode, we explore why public administration, often perceived as a great equalizer, can nonetheless reproduce or even deepen inequalities. Together with Gabriela Lotta, we discuss the role of street-level bureaucrats – teachers, police officers, social workers, and health workers – who represent the everyday face of the state. How does discretion in bureaucratic practice create both opportunities to reduce inequalities and risks of discrimination? And what can we learn by comparing the Brazilian and German contexts?

Episode highlights:
Equal treatment vs. equal outcomes

• Why uniform rules may disadvantage vulnerable groups
• How intersectionality shapes access to public services
  

Street-level bureaucracy

• Who are street-level bureaucrats and why do they matter
• The role of discretion: balancing flexibility and fairness
• Risks of bias, subjectivity, and unequal treatment
  

Context matters

• Similarities and differences between Brazil and Germany
• The role of culture, institutions, and communication in bureaucratic encounters
  

Reducing inequalities

• A more representative bureaucracy that mirrors society
• Regulating discretion without eliminating it
• Training bureaucrats to prevent stereotypes and discrimination
  

Links and resources

· More about the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz.

· Further reading:

o Lotta, G., Pires, R., Hill, M., & Møller, M. O. (2022). Recontextualizing street‐level bureaucracy in the developing world. Public Administration and Development, 42(1), 3-10.

o Eiró, F., & Lotta, G. (2024). On the frontline of global inequalities: A decolonial approach to the study of street-level bureaucracies. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 34(1), 67-79.

o Lotta, G. S., Piotrowska, B., & Raaphorst, N. (2024). Introduction “street‐level bureaucracy, populism, and democratic backsliding”. Governance, 37, 5-19.

More about the Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality”

Contact: cluster.inequality@uni-konstanz.de

New episodes every first Wednesday of the month – subscribe now!