Seminar Series

The Seminar Series brings outside speakers to Rochester to discuss their research in the field of political economy. Faculty members and graduate students in the Departments of Political Science and Economics are invited to attend.

**Seminars run on Thursdays, 3-4:30 p.m. in Harkness 112.**

2023-2024 Seminar Schedule
DateSpeakerTopic
November 2Bahar Leventoglu (Duke)Authoritarianism with Elections
November 9Ian Turner (Yale)Dark Money and Voter Learning
December 7Erik Snowberg (Utah)Do People have Policy Preferences?
January 25Brian Knight (Brown)The Rise of the Religious Right: Evidence from the Moral Majority and the Carter Presidency
February 8Avidit Acharya (Stanford)Electoral Campaigns as Dynamic Contests
February 29Dana Foarta (Stanford GSB)Organizational Capacity and Project Dynamics
March 21Zuheir Desai (Ohio State)
April 18Shanker Satyanath (NYU)
April 25Peter Schram (Vanderbilt)
May 2Clemence Tricaud (UCLA Anderson)

Past Seminars

2022-2023 Seminar Schedule
DateSpeakerTopic
November 10Rocio Titiunik (Princeton)
December 1Luis Martinez (Harris)Fiscal Rules, Austerity in Public Administration, and Political Accountability: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Colombia (pdf, 2MB)
February 9Vera Troeger (Hamburg)Motherhood, Leave Generosity and Academic Productivity
March 2Alex Wolitzky (MIT)The Economics of Partisan Gerrymandering (pdf, 470KB)
March 16Alessandra Casella (Columbia)Liquid Democracy: Two Experiments on Delegation in Voting (pdf, 1.7MB)
March 23Scott Gehlbach (Chicago)Violent Backlash to Political Reform: Evidence from Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the 1905 Russian Revolution
March 30Edoardo Teso (Kellogg)State Capacity as an Organizational Problem. Evidence from the Growth of the U.S. State Over 100 Years
April 20Bahar Leventoglu (Duke)Canceled
April 27Fred Finan (Berkeley)
2021-2022 Seminar Schedule
DateSpeakerTopic
October 7Romans PancsElectoral Maldistricting
October 21Tom ClarkPolice Racially Biased in the Decision to Shoot?
December 9Filipe CampanteThe Political Economy Consequences of China’s Export Slowdown
February 10Bahar LeventogluTo be rescheduled
March 17Andrew LittleInformation Theory and Biased Beliefs
March 24Maggie PennBan the Box? Information, Incentives, and Statistical Discrimination
April 14Alex HirschVoter Attention and Electoral Accountability
April 21Yas WatanabeElection Timing and Yardstick Competition
Spring 2021 Seminar Schedule
DateSpeakerTopic
January 28Eric WeeseInefficiency and Self-Determination: Simulation-based evidence form Meiji Japan
February 25Mariaelisa EpifanioWait and See? Public opinion dynamics after terrorist attacks
March 18Livio Di LonardoThe Political Economy of Criminal Capturing: Theory and Evidence from Italy
April 1Pablo MontagnesMatching for Strategic Organizations: Theory and Empirics from Internal Labor Markets
April 8Sarah MosharyMarket Power and Political Influence: Estimating the causal effect of concentration on lobbying in the automobile industry
April 29Federica Izzo
May 13Yasutora Watanabe
(This seminar will be held from noon-1:30 p.m.)
Fall 2020 Seminar Schedule
DateSpeakerTopic
September 17Anqi LiThe Politics of Personalized News Aggregation
September 24Andrey SimonovWhat Drives Demand for Government-Controlled News? Evidence from Russia
October 1Richard Van WeeldenDelegation in Veto Bargaining
October 8Huseyin YildirimBiased Experts, Majority Rule, and the Optimal Composition of a Committee
October 22Adam MeirowitzVoting and Trading: The Shareholder's Dilemma
October 29Larry RothenbergStrategic Avoidance and Rulemaking Procedures
November 12Micael CastanheiraHow Trump Triumphed: Multi-Candidate Primaries with Buffoons
December 3Arianna OrnaghiWho Watches the Watchmen? Local News and Police Behavior in the United States
December 10Giovanna InvernizziElectoral Competition and Factional Sabotage

Spring 2020

  • January 16
    Nishith Prakash, University of Connecticut
    "Wheels of Change: Transforming Women’s Lives with Education and Empowerment"
  • January 30
    Alexandra Cirone, Cornell University
    "Seniority-based Nominations and Political Careers" (joint work with Gary Cox and Jon Fiva)
  • February 13
    Thomas Fujiwara, Princeton University
    “Party Nominations and Female Electoral Performance: Evidence from Germany” (with Hanno Hilbig and Pia Raffler)
  • March 5
    Michael Ting, Columbia University
    "Equilibrium Administrations"
  • March 26 CANCELED
    Filipe Campante, Johns Hopkins University
  • April 9 CANCELED
    Cesar Martinelli, George Mason University
  • April 23
    Romans Pancs, ITAM
  • April 30
    Fred Finan, University of California, Berkeley

Fall 2019

  • October 24 POSTPONED
    Mariaelisa Epifanio, University of Liverpool
    "Policy demands following terrorist attacks"
  • October 31
    Miguel Rueda, Emory University
    "Kickbacks and Limits on Campaign Donations''
  • November 7
    Erik Snowberg, University of British Columbia
    "An Organizational Theory of State Capacity"

Spring 2019

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

Fall 2017

  • September 7
    Konstantinos Matakos, King’s College London
    "Electoral Rule Effects on Intra-party Cohesion: Theory and Evidence" (with Orestis Troumpounis, Janne Tukiainen, Riikka Savolainen and Dimitrios Xefteris)
  • October 19
    Claire Lim, Cornell University
    "The Political Economy of Medicaid: Ideology, Eligibility, and the Consequences of Cost-Saving Measures" (with Jee Hun Choi)

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

  • October 13
    Karam Kang, Carnegie Mellon University
    "Winning by Default: Why Is There So Little Competition in Government Procurement?" (with Robert A. Miller)
  • December 1
    Yosh Halberstam, University of Toronto
    TBA

Spring 2016

  • February 11
    Konstantin Sonin, University of Chicago
    "Endogenous Property Rights" (with Daniel Diermeier and Georgy Egorov)
  • March 24
    Keith Schnakenberg, University of Kentucky
    "Helping Friends or Influencing Foes: Electoral and Policy Effects of Campaign Finance Contributions" (with Ian R. Turner)
  • April 14
    David Austen-Smith, Northwestern University
    "Gridlock and Inefficient Policy Instruments"
  • April 28
    Scott Gehlbach, University of Wisconsin
    "Collective Action and Representation in Autocracies: Evidence from Russia's Great Reforms"

Fall 2015

Spring 2015

Spring 2014

Fall 2013

Spring 2013

Fall 2012

Fall 2011

Spring 2011

  • February 17
    Adam Meirowitz, Princeton University
    "Credibility and Crisis Bargaining" (with Kristopher Ramsay)
  • April 21
    Arkadi Predtetchinski, Maastricht University
    "Voting on Randomly Generated Proposals" (with P. Jean-Jacques Herings)

Fall 2010

  • October 7
    Hulya Eraslan, Johns Hopkins University
    "Rhetoric in Legislative Bargaining with Asymmetric Information" (with Ying Chen)
  • November 4
    Tim Feddersen, Northwestern University
    "Revealed Preferences and Aspirations in Warm Glow Theory" (with Vadim Cherepanov and Alvaro Sandroni)

Spring 2010

  • April 29
    David Epstein, Columbia University
    "Delegation and the Regulation of Finance in the United States Since 1950" (with Sharyn O'Halloran and Geraldine McAllister)

Fall 2009

Spring 2009

Fall 2008

Spring 2008

Fall 2007