I study comparative politics with research interests in ethnic and identity politics, inequality and development, citizenship, and social movements. I have a regional interest in Latin America. Below you will find a brief description of my on-going research. You can read about my recently published book here (Cambridge, 2024). And you can find a full list of my publications on my CV.

Under Review

“Consequences of Corruption for Political System Support: Evidence from a Brazilian Scandal.” (with Whitney Taylor)

Current Research

My current research explores a widespread pattern of perceived insecurity in Latin America and its consequences for the politics of inequality. I seek to understand why publics exhibit largely invariant patterns of fear of crime and violence, patterns that persist despite wide variation in observed rates of criminal violence within and across countries. Of course, fear of crime is not without merit, since parts of Latin America witness extraordinary rates of especially organized violence, and in some countries homicides have surged alongside declining poverty and inequality. Yet there remains wide cross-sectional and longitudinal variation in crime rates, and these relate weakly, if at all, to public perceptions of insecurity. This projects aims to probe this fear of crime and understand its potential consequences for perceptions of inequality and as an input of mass preferences toward redistribution.