I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. I work with Simone Dietrich on a Swiss NSF-funded project assessing the creation, evolution, and diffusion of norms in international development and aid giving — with particular focus on the role of the donor peer review tool of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and on the text analysis of its documents.
I specialize in international political economy, development, and foreign aid. I am interested in both (i) why and how wealthy states give foreign aid and (ii) the consequences of these aid allocation decisions for the effect of aid on political outcomes in recipient countries. In my dissertation project, I study the phenomenon of aid volatility and its pernicious effects on institutional development in recipient countries. With hundreds of billions spent in official development assistance by traditional donors every year, I want to understand which aid giving practices undermine aid effectiveness, and if and how international organizations play a role in improving donor behavior.
I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in December 2020. My research has been published in The Review of International Organizations and World Development. You can find a copy of my CV here.
Ph.D. in Political Science, 2020
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.A. in Political Science, 2016
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B.A. in Political Science, 2013
North Dakota State University
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