Biography
Palma Polyak is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute for the 2026–27 academic year. She is on leave from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne, where she serves as a Senior Researcher. Her research bridges Comparative and International Political Economy, examining how states pursue growth and green industrial transformation under conditions of deep interdependence, geopolitical rivalry, and persistent trade tensions.
Her research agenda spans two interconnected strands. The first examines global macroeconomic imbalances through the concept of fiscal interdependence. Tracing trade-in-value-added and balance-of-payments data, it shows how trade imbalances are shaped by interlocking fiscal decisions rather than competitiveness. The second investigates the political economy of the global battery industry, analysing nested trade-offs within climate, development, and geopolitical goals, as well as emerging “sacrifice zones” and democratic erosion associated with green industrialization. It draws on original project-level datasets tracking investments across major economies.
Before joining MPIfG, Palma worked on rule-of-law and democratic governance in the European Parliament, as part of her long-term engagement in Hungary's pro-democracy movement. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence.
As a Max Weber Fellow, she will complete her book manuscript Fiscal Chains: Why Budgets Are the Real Battleground in Global Trade Conflict while developing a comparative project on battery manufacturing, domestic deployment, and green demand regimes across major economies.