Professor Tim Vlandas
Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy
On leave until September 2026
Professor Tim Vlandas
Tim Vlandas is Professor of Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention. He is a Fellow of St Antony's College and an associate member of Nuffield College. He has held visiting positions at Harvard University, the London School of Economics, the European University Institute, Sciences Po Paris, the University of Tokyo and the University of Konstanz.
His research examines the political economy of social and economic policy in advanced democracies. He is the author of four books and 70 publications. For more information, go to Professor Vlandas' website.
Using a comparative political economy approach, Professor Vlandas examines the political and economic determinants of social and economic policies in advanced capitalist democracies, as well as their consequences for political behaviour and economic performance.
A central strand of his research explores the political economy of ageing. This work examines how the growing electoral influence of older voters affects governments’ policy priorities, social and public investment, inflation, unemployment and economic growth. He explores these themes in his forthcoming book on the political economy of ageing, funded by the British Academy and under contract with Oxford University Press. For more information about this project, please visit the Gerontonomia website.
A second strand investigates support for far-right parties, with particular attention to economic insecurity, downward social mobility, labour-market institutions and welfare policies. His wider research addresses the politics of labour-market reform and inequality, attitudes towards the welfare state and universal basic income, the politics of inflation and disinflation, sovereign wealth funds, public policy responses to pandemics, and the effects of conflicts on attitudes.
Professor Vlandas is the author or co-author of four books and 70 publications. His work has appeared in leading academic journals including the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, the European Journal of Political Research, Perspectives on Politics, Political Behavior, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Socio-Economic Review and World Politics. He has also produced reports, technical briefs and policy briefs on ageing, economic insecurity and far-right politics for organisations including the European Trade Union Institute and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
His research has been cited more than 2,300 times, including by HM Treasury, the OECD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Labour Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank and the UK House of Commons. Professor Vlandas has given more than 120 talks across 21 countries. His research has also reached broad international audiences through coverage in outlets including Bloomberg, CNN, Die Zeit, El País, the Financial Times, Handelsblatt, Libération, Slate, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Guardian, The New York Times, Vox and Die Welt.
