This project studies if and how presidents use revenues from natural resources to push forward their policy agenda. My PhD dissertation - Oil, Institutions and Policymaking - provides a framework to study this topic and finds that presidents 'invest' oil revenues in other policymaking tools.

Publications:

• Aldaz Peña, R. (2021). Oiling Congress: Windfall Revenues, Institutions, and Policy Change in the Long Run. Journal of Politics in Latin America;13(2):141-165. doi:10.1177/1866802X211003306.

This project studies why 'bad' institutions persist and how it shapes development in the long run. I am particularly interested in the formation of state capacity.

Publications

• Aldaz Peña, R. (2021), No Need for Democracy: Interelite Conflict and Independence in the Andes, Journal of Historical Political Economy; 1(4): 561-590. doi:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/115.00000020.

• Aldaz Peña, R., & D. Baquero. (2024). The Original Sin of Latin American States: Formation, Building, and Capacity. Journal of Historical Political Economy, 4(4): 557-581. doi: 10.1561/115.00000085.

This is a joint project with Angélicta Abad (U de Cuenca), Diana Dávila (Leiden) and Sebastián Vallejo (Tecnológico de Monterrey). We explore the strategies that parties use to mobilize voters, in a context of Covid and increasing polarization.

Publications

• Abad Cisneros A, Aldaz Peña R, Dávila Gordillo D, Vallejo Vera S. (2021). Believe in me: Parties’ Strategies During a Pandemic, Evidence from Ecuador. Journal of Politics in Latin America. 2021;13(3):419-441. doi:10.1177/1866802X211058742.

• Abad Cisneros, A., Aldaz Peña, R, Dávila Gordillo, D., Vallejo Vera. (2022). An Unwelcomed Déja-vú: Ecuadorian Politics in 2021. Revista de Ciencia Política, 42(2): 281-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/s0718-090x2022005000112.