My research interests lie across the intersection of Behavioural Economics, Environmental Economics, and Development Economics. I study the behavioural economics of sustainable development. In general, I investigate how inequality affects collective decision-making & how social norms can shape more equitable outcomes. I use theory-driven experiments (laboratory & field) and surveys as tools. As principal investigator in several externally funded projects, I have managed data collection in Southeast Asia & Sub-Saharan Africa. My research can be categorized into two themes: (1) Discrimination and redistribution under resource conflict and (2) Catastrophic risk and institutional design. I describe below my past and on-going research projects.
Discrimination and redistributive conflict
My PhD research focused on the political economy of institutional change, with particular focus on countries that are dependent in natural resources. In “On the Timing of Political Regime Changes in Resource-Dependent Economies” (European Economic Review), using dynamic games, we show how natural resource rents can delay democratization by enhancing incumbents’ capacity to maintain power. This work formalizes the link between resource abundance and the persistence of authoritarian regimes. In a related paper, in “Piecewise Closed-Loop Equilibria in Differential Games with Regime Switching Strategies” (Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control), we develop a new equilibrium concept allowing strategic agents to switch behavior across time. Inspired by natural resource extraction issues, this framework provides a tractable way to model dynamic conflicts that alternate between cooperation and competition.
After my PhD, I have moved into applied work, primarily using behavioural experiments to test game theoretical predictions. The research questions I attempt to answer are similar to above: How does group-based discrimination affect conflict over scarce resources? In “Social Antagonism, Identity-Driven Beliefs, and Loss Avoidance: Evidence from Guinea” (Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics), we use a lab-in-the-field experiment to study identity preferences, other-regarding beliefs, and conflict behavior among the Fulani and Malinke in Guinea. In a hawk-dove game, we explore the existence of out-group hostility and in-group cooperation compared to an uninformed baseline behavior. We observe that ethnic identity, especially among the Malinke, encourages loss aversion in situations where negative earnings are possible. Identity-driven beliefs, i.e. expectations of others, lead to either reciprocity among homogeneous pairs or materialism in diverse pairs. Using complementary survey data, we also find that high out-group trust and less linguistic diversity are correlated with conflict avoidance.
Risk and institutions
My other strand of research is also related to poverty and the environment, but focuses on catastrophic risk instead of resource distribution. In “Gender Priming in Solidarity Games: The Philippine Context” (Review of Behavioral Economics), we used a lab-in-experiment in the Philippines to study how gender identity cues affect solidarity in the presence of sudden financial losses. Results indicate that gender priming influences giving patterns, particularly in same-gender pairings among women, revealing the cultural underpinnings of altruism in environments where catastrophic risk (e.g. climate-related disasters) is rampant.
Meanwhile, in “Time vs. Money Metrics for Contingent Valuation Surveys: Theory and Application to Rural Data” (Economics Bulletin), we compare the theoretical and empirical properties of time-based and monetary-based valuation measures. Using rural field data, we show that time metrics can serve as consistent welfare indicators when market prices or monetary payments are ill-defined. In a related paper, “Quantile Regression with Interval-Censored Data in Questionnaire-Based Studies” (Computational Statistics), we developed a model addressing data imprecision and applied it to a field survey on how people reduce uncertainty in their estimates of commodity prices during periods of natural disasters.
On-going work
My current research still focuses on how institutions can shape social norms and solve problems of coordination and conflict. My paper “On the diverging effects of financial attitude and knowledge on risk preferences” uses a survey and incentivized investment game to measure an individual’s willingness to take on risk. Using a lab-in-field experiment in Guinea, Africa, it argues that raising financial knowledge alone may not achieve more prudent behaviour unless it is paired with positive attitudes and behaviours about saving, planning and risk management. The plan is to submit it to Oxford Economic Papers. In another behavioural experiment in Guinea, “Social identity in a dynamic common-pool experiment with endogenous shocks”, I find that there is within-group discrimination and less intergenerational altruism for ethnicities with hierarchical culture.
The following projects are on data collection stage with expectations of papers ready for journal submission by Summer 2026. With Philip NEARY & Francesco FERI (Royal Holloway), I work on theory-founded experiment testing the evolution of location choice in coordination games. With Maria CUBEL (City U London) & Dina RABIE (Northeastern), using lab-in-field experiments, we analyze how narratives of gender stereotypes in Egypt affect redistribution. We are preparing submission for a Registered Report for the Journal of Political Economy, a publication strategy that allows acceptance prior data collection. I also collaborate with Michalis DROUVELIS (Birmingham) on an experiment studying endogenous leader selection and promise-keeping. In a similar vein, with Konstantinos GEORGALOS (Lancaster), we investigate the role of environmental information uncertainty on cooperation. This laboratory experiment is to be submitted to Nature: Human Behaviour.
Prior to the above, in my 3 years working with the UN doing non-academic research, I have also produced policy papers on the use of machine learning tools in the understanding of democracy and inequality, and have submissions at Social Indicators Research. Finally, I also have grant applications with the British Academy and ESRC in expectation that the above projects will be extended.