This graduate seminar provides an overview of the research frontier on political accountability and governance in developing countries, including democracies, electoral autocracies, and authoritarian regimes. Topics include democratization and democratic erosion, voting behavior, clientelism, accountability, the bureaucracy, and the role of foreign aid. While including some foundational readings, the syllabus puts emphasis on recent work. Readings primarily draw from comparative politics, political economy, and development economics. In addition to theory and empirics, the course focuses on the nuts and bolts of collecting qualitative and quantitative primary data. Parts of this seminar are hands-on, and students are expected to have a background in causal inference and statistical programming. Students will replicate and extend the data analysis of a recent study, write a peer review of an academic article, and write a research proposal or pre-analysis plan.
Politics of Development in Africa (Gov 94PI), advanced undergraduate seminar, Fall 2017 and Fall 2018. Syllabus
This seminar is an introduction to the politics and political economy of development in modern Africa. Topics include the legacies of colonial rule, state formation, state failure and conflict, democratization and democratic erosion, corruption and political accountability, and the role of foreign aid. Readings draw from comparative politics, political economy, history, geography, and development economics. The course puts an emphasis on research design and evaluating causal claims.
Politics and Economics (Gov 2160), graduate seminar, co-taught with Torben Iversen, Fall 2018. Syllabus
This seminar is on the political economy of policymaking and institutional change. Readings include a mixture of foundational approaches and recent research, covering a variety of methodological perspectives. The topical emphasis is on democracy, accountability, inequality, redistribution, and growth – both in developed and developing countries. The course provides students interested in these topics an overview over the existing literature (with a focus on recent, exciting work), an understanding of key unanswered questions and puzzles, as well as a set of theoretical and methodological tools that can be employed to answer those questions and puzzles.
Research Workshop in Political Economy (Gov 3007), graduate research workshop, co-taught with Torben Iversen and Robert Bates, Fall 2017 and Spring 2018
- African Politics, Undergraduate Course, Prof. Kate Baldwin, Yale University, Fall 2014
- Fundamentals of Modeling II (Game Theory), Graduate Course, Prof. Seok-ju Cho, Yale University, Spring 2013
- Introduction to Statistics, Graduate Course, Prof. Daniel Butler, Yale University, Fall 2012
- Advanced Economic Analysis (Macro), Graduate Course, Prof. Helios Herrera, Columbia University, Spring 2007
- Demographics & Social Structure, Undergraduate Course, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Beck, University of Munich, 2005.
- LaTeX, Spring 2013
- Survey Design, Fall 2012.