Felix Hartmann

My core research agenda examines why public goods such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure are under-provided, focusing on the interactions between voters, politicians, and firms. A significant part of my work investigates when voters reward public service provision and how these dynamics shape governance outcomes. A key substantive focus is climate adaptation and mitigation, where I study how political incentives and politician–firm connections shape investments.

More broadly, my research aims to understand how to design governance institutions to enhance public welfare. I actively explore topics such as improving democratic institutions, building trust in government during crises, the influence of special interests, and the selection of candidates for political office.

1. Do Voters Value Relief over Preparedness? Evidence from Disaster Policies in Malawi. The Journal of Politics 88(4): 1674–1680 (2026). [Replication Data] [Online Appendix] [Pre-Analysis Plan]
2. Can Interest Groups Shape Public Opinion? Experimental Evidence from Germany and the UK (with J. Stuckatz, H. Klüver, and K.-U. Schnapp). Business and Politics (2026). [Replication Data] [Pre-Analysis Plan]
3. Trading Liberties: Estimating COVID-19 Policy Preferences from Conjoint Data (with M. Humphreys, F. Geissler, H. Klüver, and J. Giesecke). Political Analysis 32(2): 285–293 (2024). [Replication Data] [Preprint] [Pre-Analysis Plan] [R-package] [R-code example]
4. Public support for global vaccine sharing in the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Germany (with F. Geissler, M. Humphreys, H. Klüver, and J. Giesecke). PLOS ONE 17(12) (2022). [Replication Data] [Pre-Analysis Plan] Media: Tagesspiegel
5. Incentives Can Spur COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake (with H. Klüver, M. Humphreys, F. Geissler, and J. Giesecke). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 118(36) (2021). [Replication Data] [Preprint] [Pre-Analysis Plan] Media: Spiegel, Sunday Times, Deutschlandfunk, RBB
6. Economic Downturns and the Greek Referendum of 2015: Evidence using Night-Time Light Data (with G. Xezonakis). European Union Politics 21(3): 361–382 (2020). [Replication Data] [Online Appendix]

7. Policy Implementation and Electoral Accountability.
8. Electoral Accountability and Favouritism in Public Procurement (with N. Ravanilla).
9. Digital Literacy Alters Engagement with Emotionally Manipulative Political Content on Social Media (with K. A. Pedersen, F. Geissler, J. Giesecke, M. Humphreys, and H. Klüver). Revise and resubmit, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
10. The Political Business Class: Why Business Candidates Get Elected for Office (with M. Justesen, B. Egerod, K. A. Pedersen, and S. Markus).
11. The Transparency Gap: Divergent Preferences for Political Disclosure Rules between Citizens and Political Elites (with H. Klüver, J. Stuckatz, and K.-U. Schnapp).
12. Deliberative Mini-Publics Strengthen Democratic Attitudes: Evidence from a Field Intervention with Members of the German Bundestag (with T. Wappenhans, B. Clemm von Hohenberg, and H. Klüver). [Preprint] [Pre-Analysis Plan]
13. Cost, Not Empowerment: A Conjoint and Field Experiment on Recruitment to Deliberative Mini-Publics (with T. Wappenhans, H. Klüver, and B. Clemm von Hohenberg).
14. The Labor Market for Lobbying: Expertise, Political Connections, and Career Paths (with C. Erfort, J. Stuckatz, and H. Klüver).
15. Beyond Persuasion: Protest’s Direct Behavioral Impact on Bystanders (with V. I. Haas, T. Wappenhans, F. Geissler, D. Bischof, J. Giesecke, M. Humphreys, H. Klüver, and L. F. Stoetzer). [Preprint] [Pre-Analysis Plan]
16. How to Break Populist Parties’ Appeal? An Experimental Evaluation of Communication Counter-Strategies (with F. Geissler, J. Giesecke, H. Klüver, P. Schleiter, and L. F. Stoetzer).
17. Politically Connected: Private Returns to Businesspeople in Public Office (with M. K. Justesen, K. A. Pedersen, and B. C. K. Egerod).
18. Penalties for Policy Reversals are Stubborn (with F. Geissler, M. Humphreys, H. Klüver, and J. Giesecke).
19. Political Disclosure and Electoral Selection (with H. Klüver, J. Stuckatz, and K.-U. Schnapp).

20. The Electoral Effects of Public Service Provision: A Meta-Analysis (with W. Sandholtz). Data collection.
21. Exploring Effect Sign Heterogeneity in Meta-Analyses Using Bayesian Rule Sets.
22. Electoral Returns to Climate Adaptation: Evidence from the Philippines’ National Greening Program.

Causal Inference and Machine Learning (HU, Fall 2021).

Applied Causal Inference with R (HU, Fall 2020, Spring 2021).

Electoral Accountability (HU, Spring 2021).

Research Design and Quantitative Methods (GU, Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2017, 2018, 2019).

The Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI) Malawi Truncated Dataset. (with Ellen Lust, Adam Harris, Kristen Kao, Pierre F. Landry, Boniface Dulani, Atusaye Zgambo, Asiyati Chiweza, Happy Kayuni, Ragnhild L. Muriaas, Lise Rakner, Vibeke Wang, Lindsay Benstead, and Sebastian Nickel) Program on Governance and Local Development 2017.

The QoG Expert Survey Dataset Wave II. (with Carl Dahlström, Jan Teorell, Stefan Dahlberg, Annika Lindberg, and Marina Nistotskaya) The Quality of Government Institute 2015.