Uncovering age group disparities in policy responsiveness

In today's political sphere, the representation of different groups, especially the voices of young people, has sparked considerable debate. Movements such as Friday for the Future and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have intensified discussions about the lack of representation of young people's political concerns in decision-making. Recent academic work has largely focused on how different social groups are unequally represented in policy outcomes (e.g., Elsässer; Hense & Schäfer, 2021; Persson 2023; Schakel 2021). This study aims to contribute to this discourse by exploring how well young people's policy preferences are recognized and reflected in policy-making processes. Specifically, it seeks to understand whether policymakers respond differently to the preferences of different age groups, with a particular focus on the concerns of young citizens. In order to investigate differences in policy preferences across age groups and to what extent, if any, policymakers are more responsive to the concerns and interests of older individuals compared to younger members of society, I plan to combine recent public opinion and policy implementation data with replication data from existing research on policy responsiveness to social groups to test these assumptions. The expected outcomes of this project are twofold. First, it aims to provide insights into the complexities of political representation by shedding light on whether policymakers show different levels of responsiveness to the policy preferences of younger compared to older demographic groups. Second, it aims to make a substantive contribution to discussions on how to improve the inclusion and representation of young people in democratic systems.