I am assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and fellow at the Center of Political Economy at Washington University in St. Louis. My research focuses on the economic consequences of political regimes and on political institutions and behavior in Latin America. I teach courses on Latin American Politics, Political Economy of Development, Comparative Party Politics, and Regression Analysis.

In early November 2009, Margit Tavits and I are hosting a conference on Vote Maximizing Strategies of Political Parties. The conference is sponsored by the Center in Political Economy and the Center for the New Institutional Social Sciences.