I am a political economist and Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University.

Originally from New Zealand, I studied Political Science, Economics, International Relations and German literature at Wellington, Tübingen, Berlin and Minnesota. Before joining ASU I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

My research focuses on economic development, authoritarian regimes and democracy. Questions I am currently interested in include:

• How do dictators solve the problem of controlling their secret police? My most recent book, Watching the Watchers: Communist Elites, the Secret Police and Social Order in Cold War Europe explores this question.

• What are the effects of wealth transfers on health, fertility, and income across generations? In a project funded by the National Institutes of Health, my colleagues Evan Roberts (Minnesota), Rob Schub (Rutgers) and I use land lotteries in New Zealand to shed new light on this question.

• What role does the agricultural sector play in transitions to democracy? My first book, Food and Power: Agricultural Policy, Regime Type and Political Stability explored how dictators manipulate food markets to stay in power. With my colleague David Samuels (Minnesota) I am now looking at how mechanized farming -- tractors! -- can transform labor relations in the countryside and promote transitions to democracy.

For a list of my published work, click here. You can find replication data for my published work at the Harvard Dataverse or ASU Dataverse.