Department of Political Science, University of Toronto

Visiting Fellow
Duration of stay:  7 June – 7 July 2025
Contact

Alexander Reisenbichler is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, where he also serves as the Research Director for the Joint Initiative of German and European Studies (JIGES) at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

His research focuses on the political economy of housing, financial, and labor markets in advanced economies, with a regional emphasis on Western Europe and the United States.

He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from George Washington University and holds a B.A. from the University of Leipzig. Reisenbichler was a John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard University's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies during the 2021–2022 academic year. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the APSA Best Paper Award from the European Politics & Society Section, and research grants from institutions such as the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy and the DAAD.

Alex Reichenbichler's work has appeared in Comparative Politics, Politics & Society, the Review of International Political Economy, Socio-Economic Review, West European Politics, and Foreign Affairs.

His forthcoming book, Through the Roof: Housing, Capitalism, and the State in America and Germany (Cambridge University Press), examines the divergent trajectories of housing policies in the U.S. and Germany over the past century. 

He will give a talk addressing the themes of this book on Tuesday, 24 June at 18:15 in Room S.214 (Sammelgebäude) at the University of Regensburg. The talk will be chaired by Prof. Dr. Anna Steigemann (DIMAS - Sociological Dimensions of Space) and takes place in collaboration with the IREBS International Real Estate Business School at the University of Regenbsurg.

Book Description:

Housing is the defining issue of our time, driving a persistent affordability crisis, financial instability, and economic inequality. Through the Roof examines the crucial role of the state in shaping the housing markets of two economic powerhouses-the United States and Germany. The book starts with a puzzle: laissez-faire America has vigorously supported homeownership markets with generous government programs, while social democratic Germany has slashed policy support for both homeownership and rental markets. The book explains why both nations have adopted such radically different and unexpected housing policy approaches. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews with policymakers, it argues that contrasting forms of capitalism-demand-led in the United States and export-oriented in Germany-resulted in divergent housing policies. In both countries, these policies have subsequently transformed capitalism itself.

• Synthesizes debates on the politics of housing by bringing together perspectives from political science, economics, history, and sociology
• Provides the first English-language volume that extensively covers German housing programs from the early twentieth century until today
• Analyzes archival material and interviews to develop a focused comparison of American and German housing policymakin