Aidan Regan

Aidan Regan is Professor of Political Economy at University College Dublin's School of Politics and International Relations, where he serves as Graduate Studies Director, Director of the Dublin European Institute, and Director of the MSc in European Governance. He leads an ERC Consolidator Grant project titled Democracy Challenged: How Corporate Tax Avoidance Fuels Wealth Inequalities that Undermine Democracy, conducting foundational research on inequality and democracy.

Regan's research focuses on the intersection of comparative and international political economy, with particular expertise in corporate tax avoidance, wealth and income inequality, housing economics, voting behavior, and the transformation of work and welfare in advanced capitalist democracies. His work examines how multinational corporations, particularly in the tech sector, influence inequality through tax avoidance mechanisms and how these dynamics impact democratic institutions.

His recent publications analyze city-level growth models, media framing of tax issues, Irish political realignment toward the left, and the political economy of FDI-led growth in Ireland and Hungary. These works reveal how economic structures shape political outcomes, with particular attention to how housing markets, tax policies, and corporate power create and reinforce inequality.

Regan has received a UCD College of Social Sciences and Law Teaching Award for excellence in teaching. He actively engages with the public through a monthly column in the Business Post and regular media appearances on BBC World, Euronews, Al Jazeera, RTE, and other outlets, providing expert commentary on European and Irish political economy.

His professional activities include serving as a journal editor for New Political Economy, organizing the Comparative Political Economy network at SASE, and providing expert testimony to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform regarding Brexit and European integration.

Before joining UCD, Regan held prestigious postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the European University Institute. His academic trajectory reflects deep engagement with questions of capitalist diversity, democratic resilience, and the political consequences of economic inequality in contemporary Europe.