Stanford Graduate School of Business
Associate Professor of Political Economy, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Associate Professor of Economics and Political Science, by courtesy
You can also see a description of the themes of my research and exciting new works in progress!
Resisting Populism through Financial Market Exposure: Experimental Evidence from Brexit , Economic Journal, conditionally accepted
Breaking through the Ethnic Growth Trap, Economic Policy, 2025
Pax Economica: A Review, Journal of Economic Literature, 2025
Financial Market Exposure Increases Generalized Trust with Moses Shayo and Chagai Weiss, Journal of Public Economics, 2025
Coverage: Stanford GSB Insights
Trading Stocks Builds Financial Confidence and Compresses the Gender Gap , with Moses Shayo, the Economic Journal, 2025.
Winner of the 2025 MAIA award for best global academic paper on financial literacy and inclusion.
Coverage: National Public Radio, Planet Money: “What women want (to invest in)” and A Global Financial Literacy Education Center FinLit Talk
Civil and Ethnic Conflict in Historical Political Economy, in the Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy, 2024
Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in France with Julia Cagé, Anna Dagorret & Pauline Grosjean, American Economic Review, July 2023
Winner of the 2020 Oliver Williamson Award for Best Paper by the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics
Coverage: The Economist, AOC, VoxEU. And a talk at the Europe Center.
The Influence of Heroic Networks, with Julia Cagé and Pauline Grosjean, in Dominic Rohner and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, eds. Nation-Building: Big Lessons from Successes and Failures, CEPR, February 2023
Building Resilient Inter-Ethnic Peace, forthcoming in Dominic Rohner and Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, eds. Nation-Building: Big Lessons from Successes and Failures, CEPR, February 2023.
Civil and Ethnic Conflict in Historical Political Economy, in Jeffrey Jenkins and Jared Rubin, eds., Oxford Handbook of Historical Political Economy, February 2023, revised from Stanford GSB Research Paper 4034 (longer version) .
Pandemic Spikes and Broken Spears: Indigenous Resilience after the Conquest of Mexico, with Alberto Diaz-Cayeros and Juan Espinosa-Balbuena, forthcoming , Journal of Historical Political Economy, revised from Stanford GSB Research Paper 3977, August 2021.
Winner of the 2023 Lee J. Alston Award for the best paper published in the previous year in the Journal of Historical Political Economy.
Coverage: VoxEU
Valuing Peace: The Effects of Stock Market Exposure on Votes and Political Attitudes, with Moses Shayo, Econometrica, Vol. 87, No. 5, pp.1561-1588, September 2019, revised from Stanford GSB Research Paper 3389, February 2019.
Finalist for the 2020 Exeter Prize for the best paper published in a peer-reviewed journal in the fields of Experimental Economics, Behavioral Economics and Decision Theory.
Coverage: an Interview; The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Economic Times, Stanford GSB Insights, The Kalkalist (in Hebrew), Folha de Sao Paolo (in Portuguese).
Trading for Peace, Economic Policy, Vol. 33, No. 95, pp.485-526, July 2018, revised from “A Theory of Ethnic Tolerance” (Stanford GSB Research Paper 17-84)
Coverage: VoxEU
Financial Market Exposure Raises Support for Peace, with Moses Shayo, The Political Economist, APSA, February 2016
Financial Asset Holdings and Political Attitudes: Evidence from Revolutionary England, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 103, No.3, August 2015, revised from “Financial Innovations and Political Development: Evidence from 17th Century England” (Stanford GSB Working Paper No. 2005), 2008.
Coverage: Stanford GSB Insights, and an Interview.
`Unfinished Business’: Historic Complementarities, Political Competition and Ethnic Violence in Gujarat, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 104, pp.18-36, August 2014, revised from NBER working paper 19203, 2013.
Coverage: Stanford GSB Insights.
Gandhi’s Gift: Lessons for Peaceful Reform from India’s Struggle for Democracy, with Rikhil Bhavnani, Economics of Peace and Security Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.80-92, April 2014, revised from Stanford GSB Working Paper 2143
Coverage: Stanford Report
Trade, Institutions and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from S. Asia, American Political Science Review, November 2013,
Winner of the 2014 Michael Wallerstein Award for best published article in political economy in the previous calendar year from the American Political Science Association.
Some Related Coverage: Public Books, Discourse Magazine, VoxEU, Stanford GSB Insights , Soch , The Print, CNBCTV, The Indian Express, The New York Sun and an Office Artifact
Analyzing Political Risk in Developing Countries: A Practical Framework for Project Managers, Business and Politics, April 2013
Can Financial Innovations Mitigate Ethnic and Civil Conflict? World Financial Review, March 2013
Does Combat Experience Foster Organizational Skill? Evidence from Ethnic Cleansing During the Partition of South Asia , with Steven Wilkinson, American Political Science Review, November 2012
Coverage: The Economic Times, The Dawn, The Caravan, VoxDev, Ideas for India.
Who has Voice in a Deliberative Democracy? Evidence from Transcripts of Village Parliaments in South India, with Radu Ban and Vijayendra Rao, Journal of Development Economics, November 2012
Sharing the Future: Financial Solutions to the Political Economy Challenges of Development, in Institutions and Comparative Economic Development, edited by Masahiko Aoki, Timur Kuran and Gerard Roland, Volume I of the Proceedings of the 16th World Congress of the International Economic Association, IEA Conference Series 150: Palgrave Macmillan, November 2012
The Administrative Foundations of Self-Enforcing Constitutions, with Avner Greif and Yadira Gonzalez de Lara: The American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, May 2008
Maintaining Peace Across Ethnic Lines: New Lessons from the Past: Economics of Peace and Security Journal, July 2007
Governance in the Gullies: Democratic Responsiveness and Leadership in Delhi’s Slums, with Vijayendra Rao and Michael Woolcock: World Development, February 2007
Related coverage: The Indian Express, The Business Standard
Financial Market Exposure Increases Generalized Trust, Particularly Among the Politically Polarized Stanford GSB Research Paper 4083, with Moses Shayo and Chagai Weiss, conditionally accepted at the Journal of Public Economics
Coverage: Stanford GSB Insights
Newer versions of these working papers may be available: please email me if you are interested.
A Theory of Community Formation and Social Hierarchy, Stanford GSB Research Paper 3467, revised December 2021, with Susan Athey and Emilio Calvano, revision requested at the Journal of the European Economic Association
Seeing Green: The Effects of Financial Exposures on Climate Beliefs and Political Attitudes, with Michele Hanlon, Namrata Kala, Nemit Shroff and Chagai Weiss, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4304
Political Trenches: War, Partisanship and Polarization , Stanford GSB Research Paper 4142, with Pauline Grosjean, Michael Vlassopoulos and Yves Zenou, under review.
Coverage: VoxEU
Apex Corruption Erodes Democratic Values, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4166, with Eduardo Rivera and Enrique Seira, revised March 2026, under review.
Shape it or Leave it: Partial Final Offers Improve Negotiation Outcomes, with Valentino Chai, Nir Halevy, Michele Gelfand and Jimena Ramirez
Revolutionary Contagion, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4084, with Steven Wilkinson, March 2023.
Coverage: Le Monde ; a recording of an earlier lecture on this paper and the broader book project: the 21st Figuerola Lecture in Economic History at the Ramon Areces Foundation, November 2022. (English version)(Spanish version)
Markets under Siege: How Differences in Political Beliefs can move Financial Markets, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4012, , with Peter Koudijs and Marcos Salgado, under review.
Conquered but Not Vanquished: Complementarities and Indigenous Entrepreneurs in the Shadow of Violence, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4048, with Alberto Diaz-Cayeros
Coverage: VoxEU
Forging a Non-Violent Mass Movement: Economic Shocks and Organizational Innovations in India’s Struggle for Democracy, Stanford GSB Research Paper 4047, with Rikhil Bhavnani
Coverage: Stanford Report Broadstreet
Teaching notes for each of these cases are available — please email me.
International Political Strategy and the Climate Crisis: The CAFE Clash, with Vyoma Jha, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case P-101, 2020
Navigating Local Politics: Zum in Coronado, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case P-100, 2020
Overcoming Political Opposition: CNG Mandates in Delhi, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case P-79A-C, November 2012
Managing Local Political Risk: Parking the Tata Nano, with Debra Schifrin, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case P-78A-C, March 2012
Jet Airways (A): Weathering Turbulence, and Jet Airways (B): A Bumpy Landing with Nathan T. Blair, Stanford Graduate School of Business Case P-60A-B, February 2009
My work has been discussed or profiled in a number of press outlets, including The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The New York Sun, National Public Radio, the Indian Express, the Dawn, the Economic Times, the Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Forbes India, The Times of India, among others.
Promoting development in ethnically divided societies: historical lessons on peace and prosperity, VoxDev, September 1, 2025
“Political Trenches: war can created both political solidarity and extreme polarization”, with Pauline Grosjean, Michael Vlassopoulos and Yves Zenou, VoxEU, December 28, 2023
Surviving the Conquest: inter-ethnic complementarities and indigenous resilience to pandemics and war in Mexico, with Alberto Diaz-Cayeros and Juan Espinosa-Balbuena, VoxEU, April 3, 2022
Tolerance by Accident, Trust by Design, Public Books, October 21, 2021
My 9 year old son trades stocks on Robinhood. It isn’t all risky bets, USA Today, July 7, 2021, reprinted in Stanford GSB Insights.
When Nonviolence Failed: Hunting for the Secret List of Leaders of India’s Wartime Struggle, Broadstreet, with Rikhil Bhavnani, April 2 2021
De Verdun à Vichy, de héros a traîtres- évolution politiques des anciens combattants, with Julia Cagé, Anna Dagorret and Pauline Grosjean, AOC, February 5, 2021
Heroes and Villains: The Effects of Combat Heroism on Autocratic Values and Nazi Collaboration in Wartime France, with Julia Cagé, Anna Dagorret and Pauline Grosjean, VoxEU, January 17, 2021
Office Artifact: Saumitra Jha’s Arabic astrolabe, by Steve Hawk, 2020
Stanford business students present awards for teaching and service, by Catherine Falge, 2020
A New Kind of Peace Studies: The Stock Market, by Edmund Andrews, March 27, 2018
Drawing the Line: The short and long-term consequences of Partitioning India, with Prashant Bharadwaj, VoxDev, August 15, 2017
How Financial Innovation helped start the English Civil War, and why that’s important today, by Ted Kinni, April 29, 2015
Gandhi’s nonviolent approach offers lessons for peace movements, by Clifton Parker, October 29 2014
Is there an Economic Solution to Violence?, by Eilene Zimmerman, February 28 2014
Why Peace Can Pay, by Kathleen O’Toole, October 9 2012
Cities of Difference, the Indian Express, October 6 2009
India’s Slums Represent Complex Political and Social Issues, by Dave Murphy, August 1 2009