Ruben B. Mathisen
Political Scientist
University of Bergen

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I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen in Norway. ​ 

My research focuses on the relationship between public opinion and public policy, and in particular, the extent to which citizens have unequal influence on public policy in modern democracies. 

I got my PhD in 2023, with a thesis titled "Economic Inequality and Political Power in Norway". ​ 

My work has been published in the American Political Science Review,  British Journal of Political Science and Journal of Politics. ​ 

Also, I make data visualizations for fun that I post on Bluesky and X

Research

Working paper

Growing Apart: Ideological Polarization between Teenage Boys and Girls

Teenage boys and girls in Norway are more ideologically polarized than ever. Using data for 130,000 high-schoolers over 34 years, I find that a surge in anti-feminism among boys is driving much of the recent trend

Journal of Politics

The Influence Gap: Unequal Policy Responsiveness to Men and Women

In this paper, I show that men have had stronger influence on public policy than women in both Norway and the US over the past 50 years. But while this inequality has disappeared in Norway (as the shared of women in parliament increased), it has changed little over time in the US.

British Journal of Political Science

Taxing the 1 Percent: Public Opinion vs. Public Policy

In this paper, I document that top incomes in Norway are taxed considerably lower than what probably would have been the case if public opinion decided.

American Political Science Review 

Affluence and Influence in a Social Democracy

In this paper, I use an original dataset of public opinion polls matched with policy decisions to show that public policy in Norway primarily responds to the preferences of people with high income and education.