 | I am currently a post-doctoral researcher at the Collaborative Research Center SFB 884 at the University of Mannheim. I completed my Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan. My research stands at a critical nexus of institutions, behaviors, and policy outcomes. For this purpose, I scrutinize the behavioral assumptions underlying the existing literature on political institutions and political economy. In particular, I integrate behavioral theories at the micro level with institutional theories at the macro level, showing how political institutions shape political opinions, beliefs, and identities (including partisan, ethnic/racial and national), and thereby influence party organization and behavior, institutional legitimacy, and the political economy of reform. This framework opens new insights and furthers our understanding of the contextual and institutional factors that shape political behavior and policy outcomes as well as the micro foundations of political institutions. The research takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying how political, economic, and psychological factors interact and seeks to bridge gaps between behavioral theories and institutional theories, between political economy and political psychology, and between American politics and comparative politics. To test my hypotheses, I employ a multiple-method approach, largely drawing on statistical analysis and experiment, as well as content analysis and a case study. I have received a B.A. with Highest Distinction from Seoul National University (South Korea). |