QoG - Quality of Government Institute

12/08/2026

New publication in Regulation & Governance by our colleague Marina Nistotskaya and Joakim Nilsson (Aarhus University).

How does the clarity of legal language affect administrative decision-making?

In a global experimental study involving nearly 900 current and former government officials from 33 countries, the authors examine how officials apply clearer versus less-clear legal texts to a real administrative case involving a building permit.

The findings show that reduced legal clarity leads to less consistent application of the law and increases the likelihood of legally incorrect decisions.

The study highlights an important but often overlooked dimension of the rule of law: clear laws matter not only for citizens’ ability to understand the rules, but also for public officials’ ability to apply them consistently.

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Laws often contain linguistically complex features that increase cognitive processing demands and weaken comprehension. We extend this argument to bureaucratic decision-making by proposing that reduc...

11/08/2026

Losing an election often leaves voters feeling worse about democracy. But what about political trust?

In a new publication in EJPR, our colleagues Nicholas Charron and Jana Schwenk examine how winning and losing elections shape political trust. We use a quasi-experimental design covering elections across several European countries and regions based on the random implementation of the European Quality of Government Index (EQI) Survey during elections.
They also introduce a new way of measuring electoral winners and losers, based on whether results exceed or fall short of recent polling expectations and compare it with established measures of government participation and seat shares.

They find that elections generally boost trust, but with a clear winner–loser gap, particularly when winning means government participation. Populist party voters are especially sensitive to electoral outcomes.

You can find the full open access publication here:

Losing elections, losing trust? A quasi-experimental investigation of the winner-loser gap on political trust

26/07/2026

Congratulations to Marina Nistotskaya and Palina Kolvani for being awarded the 2026 Elinor Ostrom Prize for the best full-length article published in Journal of Institutional Economics.

18/06/2026

Read the latest news from the QoG - Quality of Government Institute!

In this newsletter: 📬

📚 New Publications and Projects
🙏 Thank you, Natalia Alvarado!
🎉 Welcoming a New Colleague
🏆 Awards and More...

https://mailchi.mp/284aee6f175f/qog-news-june

17/06/2026

📄 **Corruption – the Mother of Maternal Mortality? A Nested Analysis of How Corruption Affects Maternal Mortality**

A new QoG Working Paper by **Nønne Schjærff Engelbrecht**.

We are pleased to share this new working paper by our former student, Nønne Schjærff Engelbrecht. 🎓

This paper reflects Nønne's commitment to advancing the rights and well-being of vulnerable populations through rigorous research. We hope that this work will continue to contribute to the understanding of corruption, health, and social justice.🌍🤱

👉

16/06/2026

🚛♻️ New working paper: *Dumping the Rules: Governance Failures in the Commercial Waste Market in Sweden*

Why does illegal waste management persist despite extensive regulation? Drawing on interviews with regulators and enforcement officials, the paper shows how high compliance costs, information asymmetries, fragmented oversight, and weak enforcement create systemic vulnerabilities that enable non-compliance.

Authors: Marina Nistotskaya, Emanuel Wittberg, Filip Hjertsson & Wendela Koskinen



QoG - Quality of Government Institute

10/06/2026

New Research Note by our colleague Jana Schwenk published in Cambridge University Press on gender differences in political party donations.

Using data from Italy, the UK, and Finland, the study shows that while women often donate less frequently than men, gender gaps in donation amounts vary considerably across countries. The findings offer new insights into political finance and the representation of women's interests in party politics.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1475676526101376

QoG - Quality of Government Institute

10/06/2026

New publication by our colleague Stephen Dawson in the European Journal of Political Research:

"When do politicians choose to upset the apple cart? The fairness–loyalty trade-off in whistleblowing"

Drawing on a pre-registered survey experiment with more than 1,000 Swedish politicians, the study examines how competing moral values shape politicians' willingness to report misconduct within their own parties. The findings show that emphasizing fairness increases whistleblowing intentions, while loyalty cues do not reduce them. The research also highlights the importance of organizational responses and accountability mechanisms in shaping whether misconduct is reported.

An important contribution to our understanding of political behaviour, party organizations, and democratic accountability.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1475676526101303

QoG - Quality of Government Institute

When do politicians choose to upset the apple cart? The fairness-loyalty trade-off in whistleblowing

09/06/2026

Congratulations to Saverio Di Giorno, Monika Bauhr, and Francesco Busato on the publication of their new article in Regulation & Governance:

"What Candidates Benefit From Corruption? Opportunities for Corruption and the Prevalence of Candidates With Business Ties"

Using a novel measure of business–politics involvement and data from the 2018 Italian election, the authors show that corruption risks in public procurement can increase the prevalence of candidates with business ties—but that this relationship depends heavily on context. The findings offer important new insights into the links between corruption, political representation, and the business–politics nexus.

https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.70170



QoG - Quality of Government Institute

09/06/2026

📚 New book published by our colleague Professor Lena Wängnerud!

**Corruption and the Gender-Sensitive State: Why Gender Equality is So Hard to Achieve**

This book examines the link between gender equality and corruption in Europe. It argues that corruption is a central element in hampering gender equality development, since in corrupt contexts women are often locked out of positions of power and have fewer opportunities to influence the will of the state. Furthermore, in corrupt contexts, resources intended for the public good are diverted to serve private interests, thereby depriving the state of opportunities to enforce progressive societal change.

🔍 In addition to developing a new framework for the study of gender equality development that integrates the role played by corruption, the book also launches the concept of **gender-sensitive state power**—a notion based on progressive legislation and budget priorities that strengthen women’s self-determination, combined with mechanisms that make states stable and ensure that resources do not leak in ways that compromise women’s room to manoeuvre in society.

🌍 This important book will appeal to all those interested in gender studies, corruption studies, and politics.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-18838-0

QoG - Quality of Government Institute