ERC Starting Grant · 2022–2027

PIN·
POINT

Politics, Institutions, and
Production Networks

Revising our understanding of the political underpinnings
of economic globalisation

Discover the project
European Research Council
Scroll
What is PINPOINT?

The politics of
production networks

What are the political sources and consequences of economic globalization, and how do political institutions shape globalization?

Current frameworks emphasize a fragmentation of politics: conflict breaks down to individual firms and citizens, because the gains from trade concentrate on large, globally engaged actors. PINPOINT departs from this view.

By placing economic exchange between firms at the center, PINPOINT provides theoretical and empirical innovations that lead to a revised understanding of the political underpinnings of economic globalization — and of the mechanisms through which institutions shape it.

Explore the research
  • 01

    Production Networks

    Domestic firms interact with international markets indirectly — as suppliers and customers of globally engaged firms. These linkages vary in quantity and quality, and are largely ignored in existing frameworks.

  • 02

    Political Institutions

    PINPOINT investigates how political institutions shape — and are shaped by — the structure of economic exchange, political coalitions, and citizen preferences in the context of global markets.

  • 03

    Economic Globalisation

    The project delineates the behavior of governments, firms, and citizens in the context of international markets, challenging prevailing theories of trade politics.

€1.48M
ERC Grant
2022
Project Start
2027
Project End
LMU
Munich
From the project

Latest

All posts →
Research Update

Global Markets and Local Representation

A new paper from PINPOINT, published in the British Journal of Political Science, shows how globalization pressures increase the salience of local identity, especially when they hit key industries in local economic clusters. This results in the election of candidates with local ties, contrasting with existing work on the globalization backlash. The paper is available open access here.

Timm Betz, Paul Binder, and Jonas Geus
April 2026
1 min read
Conference

MPSA Annual Meeting

PINPOINT team members presented several new papers at the Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Paul Binder, Søren F. Etzerodt, and Jonas Geus
April 2026
The team

Team Members

View all →
TB
Timm Betz
SE
Sören Etzerodt
JG
Jonas Geus
PB
Paul Binder
BA
Borna Ardehi
MG
Monika Grzegorczyk
AP
Antonella Paparini
GS
Gizem Sahin