My current research focuses primarily on the political economy of development in sub-Saharan Africa. Broadly speaking, I am interested in the impact of democratic institutions on the provision of public goods and services. I also have a particular interest in how policy attribution affects the operation of accountability.

Book

• Rural Democracy: Elections and Development in Africa. Oxford University Press (2020).​​
  • Coverage in The Economist: "Vexed in the city", Nov 8th 2018
  • Post for Democracy in Africa Book Club, April 24th 2020
  • ​Article for The Conversation, May 24th 2020

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Security in the Absence of a State: Traditional Authority, Livestock Trading, and Maritime Piracy in Northern Somalia (with Avidit Acharya and Andy Harris),  Journal of Theoretical Politics​ (forthcoming).​
• Candidate Coethnicity, Rural/Urban Divides, and Partisanship in Africa  (with​ Kristin Michelitch), Party Politics (forthcoming).
• Who is Democracy Good For? Elections, Rural Bias, and Health and Education Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa, Journal of Politics, 82:1 (2020).​​​
• The Democratic Dividend: Public Spending and Education under Multipartyism. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press (2019).
• ​Attribution and Accountability: Voting for Roads in Ghana, World Politics, 67:4 (2015), pp. 656-689.
• ​What Democracy Does (and Doesn't) do for Basic Services: School Fees, School Quality, and African Elections (with David Stasavage), Journal of Politics, 76:1 (2014), pp. 229-245.
• ​Public Investment in Rural Infrastructure: Some Political Economy Considerations (with Moussa Blimpo and Leonard Wantchekon), Journal of African Economies, 22 (2013), pp. ii57-ii83.
• Freedom to Choose and Democracy: The Empirical Question, Economics and Philosophy, 27:3 (2011), pp. 221-245.

Work in Progress

• Does Information about Attribution Improve Accountability for Education? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Delhi (with Tanushree Goyal), In Progress.
• Does Policy Attribution Influence Candidate Choice? Evidence from Conjoint Experiments in Ghana and India (with Tanushree Goyal), In Progress.
• The Effects of Political Violence on Trust in Nigeria (with Arinze Nwokolo), ​In Progress.

Other Papers

• Food Security and Public Investment in Rural Infrastructure: Some Political Economy Considerations (with Leonard Wantchekon), UNDP Research Paper, January 2012.
• The Political Economy of Human Development (with Leonard Wantchekon), UNDP Research Paper, October 2010.
• Urban-Rural Differences in Incumbent Support Across Africa, Afrobarometer Working Paper Series, June 2010.