Political Economy

Bio

I am an assistant professor at the Vienna University of Economics. My current research examines the local-level consequences of demographic change and austerity, focusing on fiscal outcomes, voting behaviour, and the provision of public services. In parallel, I study the growing use of artificial intelligence in 'high-risk' decision-making processes and its implications for judicial outcomes and economic opportunity. My research has been published in leading political science journals such as the Journal of European Public Policy and the British Journal of Political Science, as well as in interdisciplinary outlets including Global Environmental Change and Nature Sustainability.

​Find my CV here.

Working Papers

Office-Seeking under Demographic Change: Immigration, Coalition Government, and Municipal Budget Reallocation in Sweden.

Structural Gaps and Rising Demand: The Uneven Impact of Migration on Healthcare Waiting Times in Sweden (with Thomas Plümper).

The Rise of Anti-Immigration Parties: Migration, Crime, and the Electoral Success of the Sweden Democrats (with Thomas Plümper).

Candidate and Student Selection with AI: How Robust Are Decisions? (with Thomas Plümper and Susanne Warning).

Austerity Policy Pass-Through, the Age of Public Pools, and their Closure (with Thomas Plümper).

Machine Judgment and Human Error: Can AI Reduce Wrongful Convictions in Capital Cases? (with Thomas Plümper).

Teaching Portfolio

I teach courses that engage with the following topics:

- Comparative and International Political Economy
- Environmental Politics and Governance
- Experimental Methods in the Social Sciences
- Political Systems and Public Policy
- Quantitative Social Research Methodology
- Research Design and Philosophy of Science

Contact

Dr. Dennis Kolcava
Institute for Political Economy of Public Policy
Welthandelsplatz 1, D4 3.026

1020 Vienna, Austria
Reach out here.

©2025 Dennis Kolcava