Big congrats, Simone! I’ll be visiting Nuffield in late spring—let’s meet up if you’re already there by then.

Our results suggest the need to look earlier in students’ educational trajectories and family experiences to understand the origins of political interest and civic engagement.

💡 Key findings
-Students in the academic track already showed higher political interest before placement.
-Track placement had no significant causal effect on political interest.
-Upper-secondary tracking seems to maintain rather than create disparities in civic dispositions.

📊 Our approach
Longitudinal German micro-data (NEPS)
Difference-in-Differences design
Multiple observations before, during, and after track placement

We investigate a question relevant for both political sociology and social stratification research:
📚 Does educational tracking—academic vs. vocational upper-secondary tracks—shape students’ political interest?

Technologically speaking, we live in an age of miracles.

In the last few years, we finally got malaria vaccines; we finally got an antiviral that prevents HIV infections with 95-100% efficacy.

But it all means nothing if people don't know it and don't use them.