WU Hosts the 3rd Viennese Workshop in Political Economy

By Jonas Bunte

On October 9, our Institute had the pleasure of hosting the third Viennese Workshop in Political Economy, a day-long meeting of political economists from WU, the University of Vienna, and Central European University. After editions at CEU (2024) and the University of Vienna (2025), it was WU’s turn. With twelve papers, four panels, and a room full of engaged colleagues, the day did not disappoint.

The workshop exists for a simple reason: Vienna is home to a remarkably active community of political economists, but it is spread across three universities that rarely have the opportunity to talk to one another. Together with Dorothee Bohle (University of Vienna), Björn Bremer (CEU), and Laurenz Ennser-Jedenastik (University of Vienna), I set out this year to give that community, especially its early-career members, a low-key venue to present work in progress and get substantive feedback across institutional lines. The format reflected that goal. Presentations were short, discussant comments brief, and plenty of time went to open Q&A, so each paper was actually discussed rather than just introduced.

The program ranged from public debt and austerity to populism and distributive politics, and from industrial policy and the green transition to corporate ownership and financialization. Ashley Simpson, Teresa Hübel, and Dennis Kolcava presented for WU, alongside Firuze Taner, Franziska Windisch, Anna Hehenberger, Paulus Wagner, Iasmin Goes, Evelyne Hübscher, Björn Bremer, Dora Piroska, and Patrick Walkowiak from the University of Vienna and CEU. We paired discussants across universities around shared interests. For example, a paper on carbon bias in trade policy was discussed by a colleague working on decarbonization, and a paper on sovereign debt by a colleague studying fiscal austerity.

We also wanted participants to get to know one another, not just listen politely. Name tags asked everyone to note their research topic, method, and what they were “looking for” at the workshop, and during lunch, participants were encouraged to sit with colleagues from other institutions and career stages. Judging by the lively lunchroom and the anonymous feedback afterward, it worked. Attendees called the day “inspiring,” “engaging,” and “fruitful,” and one comment summed up the point of the whole exercise: “it matters a lot to have a network of people here in Vienna working on similar things—please let’s keep this alive.”

For our team and especially our junior colleagues, the benefits were concrete: a supportive, informal setting to present current work to an audience that spans three institutions, get discussant feedback from someone outside their usual circle, and build connections that—if the feedback is anything to go by—are likely to outlast the workshop itself. We thank the Sektion Politische Ökonomie of the Austrian Political Science Association (ÖGPW) for its generous support and look forward to the fourth edition next year.

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