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

Journal Articles

• Who is Democracy Good For? Elections, Rural Bias, and Health and Education Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa, Journal of Politics (forthcoming).
• ​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.

Book Chapters

• The Democratic Dividend: Public Spending and Education under Multipartyism. In Oxford Encyclopedia of African Politics. Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

Working 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.

Work in Progress

• Rural Democracy: Elections and Development in Africa, Book Manuscript.
• Security in the Absence of a State: Traditional Authority, Livestock Trading, and Maritime Piracy in Northern Somalia (with Avi Acharya and Andy Harris), Under Review.
• Candidate Coethnicity and Rural Dwelling as Determinants of Partisanship in Africa (with Kristin Michelitch), Under Review.
• Information and Accountability: Evidence from Experiments in Ghana and India (with Tanushree Goyal), In Progress.