Mafalda Pratas

@mafaldapratas.bsky.social

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European University Institute. PhD from Harvard University. European & US politics. Political representation, institutions and voters' decision-making. Political Economy. https://mafalda-pratas.github.io/

Meanwhile scholars will hit the panel data FE regression with the incantation “parallel trends,” that literally means “I assume away non-causal explanations for a correlation,” and think we learned something scientifically special.

“I personally can’t think of a way” is deficient. “We collectively can’t think of a way” is not that. Also note the identifying assumption in, say, IV regression is not doing anything besides this. “We can’t think of a way for the instrument to directly affect the DV” is actually the argument.

Take: moderating in swing districts in 2026 highly likely to work; moderating partywide in 2026 has some evidence it will work; moderating partywide for the long term as a strategy to rid off Trumpism has way more perils and risks than proponents acknowledge.

Last week, the CDU/CSU breached the so-called "firewall" and attempted to pass a restrictive immigration bill with the AfD. How did German voters react? Together with Chris Wratil and Jorge Fernandes, we ran a survey with 2000 German voters to find out! Read thread below for insights ⬇️ 1/n

Christopher Wratil 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine@chriswratil.bsky.social · 2y ago

You wonder how the CDU/CSU playing with the "Brandmauer" to AfD last week has influenced German voters? @mafaldapratas.bsky.social @jmfernandes86.bsky.social & I have you covered. We surveyed sample of 2,000 German voters. 🧵with first results 👇. Spoiler: It did not go down as well as CDU/CSU hoped.

Very proud of my dear husband @jmfernandes86.bsky.social, who just got a big ERC Consolidator Grant (2M€!) to study those we do not see and do not represent in European democracies. Many innovations, but I'm particularly excited about the move beyond the urban-rural cleavage. 🎉

Jorge M. Fernandes@jmfernandes86.bsky.social · 2y ago

I am over the moon and humbled to have been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to study how we think about representation in proportional electoral systems. Soon, I will make a thread with most relevant questions for the 2M project for the 2025-2030 period. 1/n