Ghita Chraibi
Ghita Chraibi
PhD Candidate
University of Virginia
PhD Candidate
University of Virginia
Embedded Files
University of Virginia
I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, expecting to defend in May 2027. I study international political economy and comparative politics, focusing on how states govern emerging technologies and how those technologies reshape economic inclusion and citizen–state relations in emerging economies.
I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia, expecting to defend in May 2027. I study international political economy and comparative politics, focusing on how states govern emerging technologies and how those technologies reshape economic inclusion and citizen–state relations in emerging economies.
My dissertation asks why so many people remain outside formal finance even as financial technology spreads. I find that weak state capacity, thin banking infrastructure, and autocratic governance each push economic actors toward cash and, increasingly, Bitcoin - evidence that political institutions, not technology alone, determine who financial innovation reaches. A related line of work asks why countries regulate innovation so differently, and argues that legal origins shape contemporary regulatory approaches. I address these questions with mixed methods: panel data analysis, interviews, surveys, and experimental designs. The first article from this agenda appears in Studies in Comparative International Development, and the project informed a course I designed and taught on the political economy of fintech.
My dissertation asks why so many people remain outside formal finance even as financial technology spreads. I find that weak state capacity, thin banking infrastructure, and autocratic governance each push economic actors toward cash and, increasingly, Bitcoin - evidence that political institutions, not technology alone, determine who financial innovation reaches. A related line of work asks why countries regulate innovation so differently, and argues that legal origins shape contemporary regulatory approaches. I address these questions with mixed methods: panel data analysis, interviews, surveys, and experimental designs. The first article from this agenda appears in Studies in Comparative International Development, and the project informed a course I designed and taught on the political economy of fintech.
This work has been supported by the John L. Nau III Graduate Fellowship, the Bankard Fund Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, the Adam Smith Fellowship, and CEPR's Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) initiative.
This work has been supported by the John L. Nau III Graduate Fellowship, the Bankard Fund Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, the Adam Smith Fellowship, and CEPR's Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL) initiative.
Before UVA I completed an MPP at the University of Oxford. From 2021 to 2025, alongside my PhD, I was a part-time member of the Economics and Market Research team at the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group). I hold a dual degree from the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania (Economics from the Wharton School and International Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences) and spent two years in strategy consulting at Strategy& (PwC).
Before UVA I completed an MPP at the University of Oxford. From 2021 to 2025, alongside my PhD, I was a part-time member of the Economics and Market Research team at the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group). I hold a dual degree from the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania (Economics from the Wharton School and International Studies from the College of Arts and Sciences) and spent two years in strategy consulting at Strategy& (PwC).
My dissertation committee is chaired by David Leblang, with Sonal Pandya, Anne Meng, Kirill Zhirkov, and Lana Swartz.
My dissertation committee is chaired by David Leblang, with Sonal Pandya, Anne Meng, Kirill Zhirkov, and Lana Swartz.
I am fluent in English, French, and Arabic, with full professional proficiency in Spanish.
I am fluent in English, French, and Arabic, with full professional proficiency in Spanish.
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