Political Economics Initiative

Research Initiative

Exploring how economic decision-making is influenced by political factors

Faculty Directors: Leonardo Bursztyn and Konstantin Sonin

Description

The Political Economics Initiative is an interdisciplinary research program that focuses an economic lens on the questions, incentives, and choices that shape political decision-making in the United States and around the world. Scholars employ the latest in theoretical and empirical techniques to explore how economic decision-making is influenced by political factors. In doing so, they investigate a broad range of issues, including media and communications, social networks, ideology, identity, social norms, political institutions, and many others. By applying economic tools to questions surrounding the business of political systems, this Initiative sheds new light on politics and its impact on society.

RESEARCH GRANTS FOR UCHICAGO SCHOLARS

The Political Economics Initiative regularly initiates a call for proposals to the full Chicago Economics community for innovative research ideas. We are excited to support cutting-edge research on campus through seven grants to date.

Rafael Jimenez (Student Award)
Proposed Project Title: Haters Gonna Hate: The Micro Effects of Censoring Hate Speech in Social Media

Scott Behmer (Student Award)
Proposed Project Title: Willingness to Provide Biased News

Mateusz Stalinski (Student Award)
Proposed Project Title: Mitigating Affective Polarisation and ‘Echo Chambers’: Experimental Study of Mechanisms

Luis Martinez
Proposed Project Title: Fiscal Rules and Local Development in Colombia

Raul Sanchez de la Sierra
Proposed Project Title: Who Joins Armed Organizations? Moral Sentiments, Economic Incentives, and Social Norms

Daniel Kashner (Student Award)
Proposed Project Title: Disrupting Polarization

Shaoda Wang (Staff Award)
Proposed Project Title: The Selection and the Making of Civil Servants: Evidence from China’s College Graduate Civil Services Program

Associated Scholars

UChicago Scholar

Scott Ashworth

Homer J. Livingston Professor, Harris Public Policy and the College

UChicago Scholar

Maria Angélica Bautista

Senior Research Associate, Harris Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

Marianne Bertrand

Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Willard Graham Faculty Scholar, Chicago Booth

UChicago Scholar

Chris Blattman

Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies, Harris School of Public Policy; Deputy Director of BFI Development Economics Center

UChicago Scholar

Leonardo Bursztyn

Saieh Family Professor, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics; Co-Director of BFI Political Economics Initiative

UChicago Scholar

Emanuele Colonnelli

Joseph L. Gidwitz Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship, Chicago Booth

UChicago Scholar

Oeindrila Dube

Philip K. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies, Harris Public Policy; Director of BFI Initiative for the Study of Gender in the Economy

UChicago Scholar

Wioletta Dziuda

Associate Professor and Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research, Harris Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

Scott Gehlbach

Elise and Jack Lipsey Professor, Department of Political Science, Harris School of Public Policy and the College

UChicago Scholar

Emir Kamenica

Richard O. Ryan Professor of Economics and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, Booth School of Business

UChicago Scholar

Steve Levitt

William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus; , the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics; Director of the Price Theory Initiative

Zhaotian Luo

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science

UChicago Scholar

Ethan Bueno de Mesquita

Dean and Sydney Stein Professor, Harris School of Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

Roger Myerson

David L. Pearson Distinguished Service Professor of Global Conflict Studies, Harris Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

James Robinson

Professor, Harris School of Public Policy and Department of Political Science

UChicago Scholar

Raul Sanchez de la Sierra

Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

Konstantin Sonin

John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor, Harris Public Policy; Co-Director of BFI Political Economics Initiative

UChicago Scholar

Austin Wright

Associate Professor , Harris Public Policy

Associated Research

BFI Working Paper·Aug 19, 2025

The Breakdown of the English Society of Orders: The Role of the Industrial Revolution

Cara Ebert, Leander Heldring, James Robinson, and Sebastian Vollmer

Topics: Economic Mobility & Poverty

BFI Working Paper·Jul 28, 2025

Violent Backlash to Political Reform: Evidence from Anti-Jewish Pogroms in the 1905 Russian Revolution

Paul Castañeda Dower, Scott Gehlbach, Dmitrii Kofanov, Steven Nafziger, and Vladimir Novikov

Topics: Uncategorized

BFI Working Paper·Jul 28, 2025

The Personalist Penalty: Varieties of Autocracy and Economic Growth

Chris Blattman, Scott Gehlbach, and Zeyang Yu

Topics: Uncategorized

Associated Insights

Research Briefs·Aug 9, 2023

On the Importance of African Traditional Religion for Economic Behavior

Lewis Dunia Butinda, Aimable Amani Lameke, Nathan Nunn, Max Posch, and Raúl Sánchez de la Sierra

Traditional religious rituals increase profits among beer sellers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by correcting overly pessimistic beliefs about the risk of theft and preventing stock-outs.

Research Briefs·Aug 3, 2023

Constitutions and Order: A Theory and Evidence from Colombia and the United States

Leopoldo Fergusson, Javier Mejia, James A. Robinson, and Santiago Torres

Absent institutions strong enough to influence a country’s distribution of resources, some constitutions deliberately allow for violence among citizens as a credible means for more powerful political parties to incentivize the less powerful to opt into governance.

Research Briefs·Jul 26, 2023

Electoral College and Election Fraud

Georgy Egorov and Konstantin Sonin

The electoral college discourages election fraud by making it more difficult and costly to manipulate votes in swing states where opposing parties have sufficient political power to prevent fraud.

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