Things I wrote

Here you can find the list of the papers I worked on. If you need further info, just reach out and I’ll be happy to share more!

Notice that this might not be an updated list. The most updated list of my publications on is always available in my CV.

If your institution provides access to the papers, please download them from the websites linked with the authors’ names. This helps with my stats.

If you do not have access, please reach out via email (gaetano.scaduto@unimib.it or gaetanoscaduto1999@gmail.com) and I will be very glad to provide you with a copy of the manuscript. If possible, in this section I also provide links to download unformatted or preprint version of my papers independently.

Published/Accepted papers

  • Scaduto, G. (2025). Politicultural Linking: Inferences between Political and Apolitical Traits. Accepted in Public Opinion Quarterly.

    • Slideshow available here.
    • Preprint available here.

  • Decadri, S., Mancosu, M., Negri, F., Scaduto, G. Aligning Emotions: A Comparative Analysis of Text and Imagery by European Party Leaders on Instagram. The International Journal of Press/Politics.

    • Yet one another of my “communication” stream of research around politicians’ Instagram profile content

  • Respi, C., Gui, M., Scaduto, G., Serini, M., Pizzul, D., Gerosa, T., & Lutz, C. (2024). Lower Cynicism, Not Higher Literacy, Promotes Protective Behavior: Exploring the “privacy exception” in the Digital Inequality Framework. Social Science Computer Review.

    • A paper about the factors affecting privacy protection behavior online, linked to the “VDATA” project I collaborated with in 2023. In this aper, I dealt with the analysis together with Tiziano Gerosa, using structural equation models (with lavaan!). Super fun!

  • Scaduto, G, Negri, F. (2024). The Pundit Paradox: Exploring the Mismatch between Supply and Demand in Italian Political Talk Show Guests. Comunicazione Politica.

    • You can find a ShinyApp to play with the data from this project here.

    • You can find the data and replication files for this project here.

    • Slideshow available here.

    • If you cannot access the paper, you can click here for an unformatted version.

  • Scaduto, G., Negri, F. (2024). Food for (political) thought: political inferences from apolitical cues and their social consequences in Italy. South European Society and Politics, 1–30.

    • Awarded “Best paper by a Junior Researcher” by the Italian Political Communication Association (ASSOCOMPOL) in 2024.

    • You can play with some of the data with a ShinyApp here.

    • The data is publicly available here.

    • Part of the replication code is available here.

    • Slideshow available here.

    • If you cannot access the paper, you can click here for an unformatted version.

  • Mancosu, M., Scaduto, G. (2024).“Crowds and Smiles: Visual Opportunity Structures and the Communication of European Political Leaders during the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Mass Communication & Society. Mass Communication and Society, 1-26.

    • Slideshow available here.

    • If you cannot access the paper, you can click here for an unformatted version.

  • Bertero, A, Scaduto, G. (2023). A midsummer night’s dream: political communication during the Italian 2022 electoral campaign. Italian Journal of Electoral Studies QOE-IJES.

  • Scaduto, G., Mancosu, M. (2022). Lacrime di coccodrillo? Variazioni nel contenuto visuale su Instagram dei politici populisti e mainstream durante la pandemia. Comunicazione politica, 23(2), 255-276.

    • The very first paper I ever worked on. Tries to investigate one simple question: do political leader smile less on Instagram while there are more deaths by Covid? And are there differences between populist and non-populist?

  • Scaduto, G. (2022). Gli algoritmi di computer vision: una guida all’uso per le scienze politiche e sociali. Polis, 36(2), 315-332.

    • Dealing with IA and machine learning before ChatGTP, Midjourneys and all those guys were cool.

Under review

  • Scaduto, G., Negri, F., Decadri, S. It’s the Homophily, Stupid: How Apolitical Similarities Affect Political Conversations. A Cross-Country Dynamic Parallel Experiment. Under review in Political Behavior.

    • Preprint available here.

  • Tsoulou-Malakoudi, A., Goovaerts, I., Scaduto, G., Van Erkel, P., Walgrave, S. Political others are perceived as non-politically different. Under review in European Journal of Political Research.

  • Decadri, S., Negri, F., Scaduto, G. Visual Conjoint Experiments in Social-Scientific Research: A Semi-Systematic Review and a Protocol Blueprint for Cross-Country Applications. Submitted.

Working Papers

  • Decadri, S., Negri, F., Scaduto, G. A Visual Conjoint Experiment on Ideological Inferences from Politicians’ Instagram Profiles.

    • Slideshow available here.

  • Goovaerts, I., Tsoulou-Malakoudi, A., Scaduto, G., Lefevere, J., Feitosa, F. The apolitical side of affective polarization: Examining the role of perceived non-political differences and similarities among voters

  • Tsoulou-Malakoudi, A., Goovaerts, I., Scaduto, G., Van Erkel, P., Walgrave, S. How similar or different do citizens perceive in- and out-party supporters with regard to non-political traits in multi-party systems?

Other stuff I wrote

  • My MA thesis! (In italian) “Un paese di musichette mentre fuori c’è la morte? Indagine sulla comunicazione dei politici italiani su Instagram durante la pandemia di Covid-19”. Thesis supervisor: prof. Moreno Mancosu.

  • My BA thesis! (In italian) “Teoria della scelta sociale”. Thesis supervisor: prof. Giacomo Como.

  • You can find several light-reading articles about politics and other stuff on the personal blog [in Italian] I used to write on a couple of years ago. Among those you’ll find…

  • In April 2024 I gave a recreational presentation about “Fermat’s Last Theorem” at the M2P Staff Meeting (University of Antwerp). You can find the slides, summarizing the story, here.