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 (forthcoming).
  • How have African rulers responded to the introduction of democratic electoral competition? Despite the broadly negative picture painted by the prevailing focus on electoral fraud, clientelism, and ethnic conflict, I argue that the full story is somewhat more promising. While these unfortunate practices may be widespread, African rulers also seek to win votes through the provision and distribution of public goods and services. My central argument is that in predominantly rural countries the introduction of competitive elections leads governments to implement pro-rural policies, in order to win the votes of the rural majority. As a result, across much of Africa the benefits of democratic electoral competition have accrued primarily in terms of rural development. This broad claim is supported by cross-national evidence, both from public opinion surveys and from individual level data on health and education outcomes. The argument’s core assumptions​ about voting behavior are supported with quantitative evidence from Ghana, and qualitative historical evidence from Botswana presents further evidence for the underlying theoretical mechanism. Taken together, this body of evidence provides reasons to be optimistic about the operation of electoral accountability in Africa. African governments are responding to the accountability structures provided by electoral competition; in that sense, democracy in Africa is working.

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 Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press (2019).

Work in Progress

• 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), Revise & Resubmit.
• Does Attribution Improve Accountability for Education? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Delhi (with Tanushree Goyal), In Progress.
• Does Information about Policy Attribution Influence Candidate Choice? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Ghana (with Tanushree Goyal), 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.