My research focuses on the relationship between welfare state institutions and outcomes for individuals and families, and relates to the fields of comparative social policy and social stratification. In my ongoing theoretical and empirical research I investigate institutional configurations as well as individual positions and resources.
Varieties of reproduction regimes: institutions, norms and inequalities (VRR)
Research Group funded with the Emmy-Noether-Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG), since April 2022 at WZB Berlin Social Science Center. The research takes a comparative perspective on three main questions. First, how do states regulate reproduction, that is, whether or not people have children? The project is unique in looking at institutional configurations of ‘classical’ instruments like abortion legislation, sex education and contraception policy alongside ‘new’ regulations like for medically assisted reproduction. A new internationally comparative database on laws and policies will be built. Second, what patterns of stratified reproduction are associated with the institutional settings? It is examined how institutional settings reduce stratified reproduction by providing policies that secure reproductive rights or how they cement existing inequalities based on sexuality, gender, class and ethnicity. Third, what are the associations between regulating reproduction and attitudes towards gender, sexuality and family in the population? Here, the project takes a longitudinal perspective allowing to study where regulations lead to more tolerant attitudes and where do they spawn a normative backlash.
International Reproduction Policy Database (IRPD)
IRPD is a subproject of the research group “Varieties of Reproduction Regimes” at WZB Berlin Social Science Center. We collect data on reproduction policies in five fields of regulation: sex education, contraception, abortion, medically assisted reproduction, and pregnancy care. The final dataset contains indicators of policies in these five areas across 30 high-income countries between 1980 and 2020, and is available through the GESIS archive:
Zagel, Hannah, Khan, Rohan, Kluge, Anna, Tamakoshi, Mio, Pikus, Denys, Mayer, Carlotta, & Gädecke, Martin (2025). International Reproduction Policy Database (IRPD). WZB – Berlin Social Science Center. Data File Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2623.
Selected publication projects
Reproduction policy in the 21st Century: A comparative perspective
Edited volume to be published by Edward Elgar on reproduction policy as a comparative policy subject. Covers comparative studies in 10 chapters on various issues of reproduction policies and comparing across countries, within countries across policy fields and over time. International contributors.
Stratified reproduction in the life course: Reproductive trajectories of young adults in Germany
Publication project (with Martin Gädecke, University of Oxford) on patterns of young people’s partnerhship and contraceptive trajectories. Presentations at ECSR Annual Conference 2023, Prague and PAA Meeting 2024, Columbus, Ohio.
Hannah Zagel 