Students

Students in the Political Economy and Government Program register at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Students’ dissertations cover a wide range of topics.  Recent Examples include the rising role of primary elections in Latin American politics, the role of ethnicity and institutions in the political economy of African development, and the microfoundations of economic growth.

Current Students and Research Interests

Lucy Barnes

Formal political theory, and its limits; in particular those areas in which rational choice and public choice theories are seemingly undermined, and why. The ways in which those political areas in which rational choice theory has been criticized (in particular, collective action) can be modeled using the tools of game theory, or in an economic context.

Johnathan Boysielal

The implications of some of the insights of behavioral economics, social psychology and identity politics are for growth, inequality and redistribution; what interdependent preferences across ethnic groups (like “Keeping up with the Joneses” effects) might mean for government spending; and taking “bounded rationality” and some of the other theories in behavioral economics (like Prospect Theory) to heart.

Ryan Bubb

Economic analysis of the origin of political, legal and social institutions and their implications for development; the incorporation of positive political economy models into normative arguments about government intervention; and corruption, particularly in less developed countries.

Eliana Carranza

Political economy of development, particularly interested in studying the links among inequality, social expenditure, investment in human capital and social mobility.

Alexis Diamond

Challenging the current norms divorcing First World and Third World Political Economy, the connections between the two contexts, and the common denominators of political-ecological conflict.

Dilyan Donchev

International relations, democratization issues in Eastern Europe, the effects of economic integration particularly in the EU, psychology and negotiation, game theory.

Mauricio Fernandez Duque

Political economy of development.

Kate Emans Sims

Environmental and natural resource economics, international relations, and environmental policy.

Magnus Feldmann

Comparative and international political economy, especially the politics of macroeconomic and international trade policy-making.

Dan Fetter

Comparative political economy and institutional change in European history, and less developed countries.

Tim Ganser

How institutions affect economic development. In particular, the microeconomic effects of institutions in a development context and why land titling programs have not led to improved access to private-sector credit for the former squatters.

Wonbin Kang

The effect of institutions, specifically legal and quasi-legal institutions, on economic growth. How transitional institutions promote and/or retard development.

Martin Kanz

The role of ethnicity and institutions in the political economy of African development; applications of models of collective choice to the political economy of development; examination of how domestic political alignments and institutional choices affect the foreign policy behavior of states.

Supreet Kaur

Development; industrial organization; micro institutions; exploring the role of institutions and social norms in determining economic behavior and outcomes, particularly in less developed countries; and examining market failures preventing private sector growth in developing countries.

Joseph Mazor

Normative political theory and development economics.

Paul Novosad

Development economics.

Maria Petrova

The analysis of voting in various socioeconomic conditions, the role of mass media in political processes, comparative political economy, institutional economics, and government policy with respect to social protests.

Philipp Schnabl

Exploring the microfoundations of economic growth and the formation of economic, political, and social institutions. In particular, the role and importance of information asymmetries in developing countries and their impact on both the micro level and the macro level.

Sandip Sukhtankar

Issues at the intersection of political economy and development economics. Currently working on projects on political connectedness and firms in Maharashtra, India; the effects of ownership structure of sugar mills on the socioeconomic outcomes of farmers in Tamil Nadu, India; and on understanding the constraints and motives facing corrupt officials running a large workfare program in India.

Rodrigo Wagner

Development economics, public economics, industrial organization, and quality of policy making process.