From February 19 to 21, 2026 the Chair of Political Economy organized the ninth edition of its annual conference on the “Political Economy of Democracy and Dictatorship”. The conference aimed to promote research and academic discourse on different political regimes and economic changes. In 2026, over 80 scientists participated, presenting and discussing their current research. Once again, the conference program was decided by a paper selection committee based on a submission and review process. This committee consists of seven senior and junior researchers who serve as scientific directors of the conference.

A total of 70 presentations were held during the conference. The conference program covered a variety of current political and economic debates such as drivers of political change in Russia, democratic backsliding, the politics of fiscal capacity, climate policies and public goods. Two of the program’s highlights were the keynote lectures delivered by Maria Petrova (University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain) and Milan Svolik (Yale University, USA). On the first day of the conference, Prof. Petrova discussed in her keynote lecture how online homophily has undermined social cohesion in the US. On the second day, Prof. Svolik presented his research on “Trading-off Democracy”.

This year marked the fifth time that the PEDD Young Scholar Award was granted. This award recognizes outstanding research by young scholars under the age of 35. The Paper Selection Committee served as the jury, evaluating all eligible submissions. This year, the award went to Anastasiia Arbuzova from the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics for her research on “Fraud and Legitimacy: The Economics of Autocratic Elections.”

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who were instrumental in making this year's PEDD conference a success, particularly the participants for their invaluable contributions. In light of the numerous ongoing political crises worldwide, the significance of research and discourse on political and economic matters is underscored. We are grateful to have provided a forum for researchers from around the globe to exchange ideas and stimulate further research. We eagerly anticipate the next edition in 2027, which will be the tenth conference and therefore a jubilee.

Date and Location
February 19 to 21, 2026
University of Münster, Germany

Paper Selection Committee
- Zareh Asatryan, University of Münster, Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Germany

- Giacomo De Luca, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy

- Sofia Tsarsitalidou, University of Ioannina, Greece and London School of Economics, UK

- Alfa Farah, Diponegoro University, Indonesia

- Lena Gerling, University of Münster, Thünen Institute, Germany

- Manuel Santos Silva, Free University of Berlin, Germany

- Andreas Stegmann, University of Münster, Germany