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Flori­an Hol­len­bach

Associate Professor

Subjects
Taxes Analysis Quantitative methods Methodology Democracy Politics

Primary research areas

State Ca­pa­city
Coun­tries and in­sti­tu­tions differ greatly in their ca­pa­city to col­lect taxes or write and im­ple­ment policies effect­ively. These differ­ences in ca­pa­city have im­port­ant down­stream con­sequences for eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment, gov­ern­ment ser­vice pro­vi­sion, and polit­ic­al ac­count­ab­il­ity. Across dif­fer­ent pro­jects I study the de­term­in­ants and con­sequence of dif­fer­ences in state ca­pa­city.
Il­li­cit Mon­et­ary Flows & Cor­rup­tion
I study and eval­u­ate the ef­fect­ive­ness of policies com­bat­ing il­li­cit mon­et­ary flows and money laun­der­ing. For ex­ample, coau­thors and I eval­u­ate wheth­er be­ne­fi­cial own­er­ship re­gis­tries can re­duce il­li­cit funds be­ing in­ves­ted in real es­tate or the ef­fects of bank de-risk­ing policies.
Quant­it­at­ive Meth­ods
In my meth­od­o­lo­gic­al re­search has been fo­cused on im­prov­ing stat­ist­ic­al meth­ods to help re­search­ers in ob­tain­ing un­biased es­tim­ates from im­per­fect ob­ser­va­tion­al data. A cur­rent pro­ject is aim­ing to eval­u­ate and com­pare stat­ist­ic­al power of staggered dif­fer­ence-in-dif­fer­ences es­tim­at­ors.
Money in Polit­ics
I study how money im­pacts polit­ics, both via leg­al and il­leg­al means. I in­vest­ig­ate ques­tions such as how firms in­flu­ence polit­ics through lob­by­ing or wheth­er they can be­ne­fit from polit­ic­al con­nec­tions.

How do we lim­it the det­ri­ment­al ef­fects of money in polit­ics?

My main research interests lie in comparative political economy, with a focus on state capacity, fiscal policy, and illicit monetary flows. I study the interplay of business and democracy, democratic institutions and accountability, and money in politics. Related to my academic focus on corruption and illicit monetary flows, I am on the executive committee and researcher at the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, an initiative bringing together journalists, data analysts, academics and policy advocates to expose corruption. 

Recent research projects

The De­term­in­ants and Con­sequences of Le­gis­lat­ive Ca­pa­city

While elec­ted rep­res­ent­at­ives write policy, it is im­ple­men­ted by un­elec­ted bur­eau­crat­ic agents with their own pref­er­ences. The dis­tri­bu­tion of power between the le­gis­lature and the bur­eau­cracy is de­term­ined by the le­gis­lature’s ca­pa­city for ex-ante policy design and ex-post over­sight. Fun­ded by the In­de­pend­ent Re­search Fund Den­mark, we study what ex­plains how much ca­pa­city le­gis­latures grant them­selves and the im­plic­a­tions for demo­crat­ic ac­count­ab­il­ity.

Be­ne­fi­cial Own­er­ship Re­gis­tries and Money Laun­der­ing in Real Es­tate

In this pro­ject, we study the ef­fects of be­ne­fi­cial own­er­ship policies on il­li­cit in­vest­ments in real es­tate. Across dif­fer­ent pa­pers, we eval­u­ate the ef­fect of geo­graph­ic tar­get­ing or­ders (GTOs) in the United States and the passing of the eco­nom­ic crime bill (ECB) in the UK.

Les­sons for Com­bat­ing Il­li­cit Cross-Bor­der Trade and Money Laun­der­ing from the Congo

In this pro­ject, we in­vest­ig­ate trade-based money laun­der­ing and how de-risk­ing af­fects il­li­cit mon­et­ary flows. We ana­lyze data from the largest leak of fin­an­cial in­form­a­tion in Africa – the Congo Hold-Up, con­tain­ing mil­lions of doc­u­ments from BG­FIBank in the Demo­crat­ic Re­pub­lic of Congo (DRC).